Francisca Mutapi is a Zimbabwean professor of global health infection and immunity, co-director of the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh, and Deputy Director of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit TIBA (Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa). She is the first known Black woman to be awarded a professorship by the University of Edinburgh. Her work focuses on parasitic diseases, especially schistosomiasis (bilharzia), and has influenced public health priorities set by the World Health Organization and pharmaceutical companies.
Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Mutapi earned her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Zimbabwe and completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford as a Beit Trust Scholar. She held academic roles at Oxford, Birkbeck College, and the University of Glasgow before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2002.
At Edinburgh, she leads the Parasite Immuno-epidemiology Group, which researches immune responses to parasitic worm infections across African populations. She has pioneered work on pediatric formulations of praziquantel, the only drug for schistosomiasis, and is advancing proteomics-based vaccine development. Her research also explores coinfections such as malaria and schistosomiasis, particularly in underserved regions.
Mutapi has been recognized with the University of Edinburgh Chancellor’s Award for Impact and is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences, and a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy. She serves on the UK Global Challenges Research Fund advisory board. In addition to her scientific career, she is an accomplished painter who supports education initiatives in Zimbabwe. She is married to Professor Mark Woolhouse and they have a daughter.
