Chisomo Utumbe Mthunzi

Chisomo Utumbe Mthunzi is a medical doctor from Malawi currently pursuing an MSc in Integrated Immunology at the University of Oxford. She is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar at the University of Oxford and a member of St Hugh’s College.

Chisomo’s interest in immunology was sparked during medical school, where she witnessed the heavy burden of tuberculosis (TB) and its complications in Malawi. A visit to the immunology laboratories at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme (MLW) deepened this interest, exposing her to immune-based approaches to tackling infectious diseases.

Following her medical training, she joined MLW’s Mucosal and Vascular Immunology Group as a research assistant, investigating immune responses to TB and HIV. She was awarded a £14,000 MLW Core Research Grant to explore the repurposing of existing drugs for improved TB management. She later presented this work at the Keystone Symposium on Tuberculosis in Boston, Massachusetts.

Outside the lab, Chisomo volunteers with Camp Chisomo, an initiative supporting children and families in rural Malawi through education and life skills programmes. She is also a blogger, using her platform to reflect on personal and community experiences. In her spare time, she enjoys cycling and looks forward to discovering Oxford by bike.

After Oxford, Chisomo aims to contribute to reducing the global burden of TB by advancing immunology research and translating it into practical, accessible therapies.