Doctoral Students

Sharon Okanga BSc Biological Sciences (King’s College London), MSc Wildlife Health and Management (University of Nairobi) John Day Building 2.16 Tel: +27 (0)21 650 6008 Fax: +27 (0)21 650 3295 Email: sharon.okanga@uct.ac.za

About Sharon

Sharon Okanga graduated from King’s College London with a BSc in Biological Sciences in 2001. She took a year off during which she volunteered for an Angolan colobus census in the Kwale of Kenya. She undertook further studies at the University of Nairobi, researching gastrointestinal parasites in Angolan colobus monkeys in relation to age, sex and habitat integrity. She graduated with an MSc in Wildlife Health and Management in 2005, and went on to spend four years as the Wildlife Officer at Haller Park, Mombasa, Kenya. During her time at Haller Park, Sharon was responsible for the management of captive wildlife populations, in terms of numbers and health and was project manager for translocation of hippos, oryx and eland. She implemented monitoring programs for tick and worm control and water quality of the various ponds within the wetlands of the park.

Sharon has long held an interest in wildlife disease epidemiology and the dynamics of pathogen transmission, with an aim towards the further development of wildlife disease mitigation strategies in Africa.

Thesis

The influences of host community, urbanization and water quality on avian malaria ecology in South African passerines (Supervisors: Graeme Cumming and Phil Hockey)

This study aims to investigate the incidence and prevalence of avian malaria and the factors driving avian malaria infection patterns in one or more common passerines in relation to factors relating to land cover change, aridity and host community composition. Birds act as one of the predominant hosts for zoonoses. Their high mobility enables them to transfer diseases over a large range and between a wide diversity of hosts. It is hoped that increasing contributions to the knowledge of avian disease ecology in Africa, and mechanisms driving transmission, will help with educational and conservation efforts within the country and continent wide.

Sharon's research is funded by a bursary from the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence and she received a grant from the International Foundation of Science (IFS) for 2011.