UK Grad Tracking Ebola in Liberian Slums Featured in The New York Times

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 16, 2014) — Tracking the spread of the deadly Ebola virus from person to person in Liberia's crowded capital Monrovia has proved a difficult task for emergency officials who are working to contain the disease.

But despite the known risk of exposure to the virus, University of Kentucky graduate Mosoka Fallah is following a trail of Ebola, instructing neighborhood leaders to report cases of sick victims of the disease and urging cooperation with government officials. Fallah's work in slum communities to help manage the Ebola virus were described in a New York Times article published Sept. 13.

Since March 2014, government officials in West Africa have confronted the largest outbreak of Ebola, a rare and deadly virus that was discovered in the 1970s in the Republic of Congo. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the disease has caused more than 3,700 deaths in West Africa up to Aug. 31, 2014. No cases have been confirmed in the United States. 

A native of Liberia, Fallah received his bachelor's degree in his home country and a master's degree from Kent State University in the United States. He studied at the University of Kentucky from 2005 to 2011, obtaining his doctorate in microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics in 2011. He subsequently received a master's in public health from Harvard University.

Members of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics recall Fallah's enthusiasm for learning. Department Chair Beth Garvy, who served on Fallah's doctoral committee, said at the end of every year, Fallah asked members of the department for old textbooks to send home to Liberia.

"He read voraciously," Garvy said. "He was known to stand in lines in the grocery store at check-out reading scientific papers."

While at UK, Fallah expressed a desire to eventually return to his home country, which has been plagued by violence and civil war for the past two decades. He keeps in touch with members of the department, including colleague of five years Subbarao Bondada, a professor in the department. Bondada exchanges emails with Fallah, who often sends updates about a health clinic he operates for women and children in Liberia. Fallah sent money earned through his fellowship at UK to Liberia in order to build up the clinic. Bondada said Fallah has also provided updates about the Ebola situation in Liberia. Bondada said, with his passion for seeing peace and stability in Liberia, Fallah was the ideal representative to communicate important messages about the virus outbreak to communities. 

"The local people trust him and he's acted as an intermediary," Bondada said. "When the local people didn't listen to the government, he was able to help them understand and implement specific plans to inform and control the disease." 

MEDIA CONTACT: Elizabeth Adams, elizabethadams@uky.edu