Ousman Bajinka

Dr Ousman Bajinka is a microbiologist, interdisciplinary researcher and educator at the University of The Gambia, based at Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital. He holds a PhD in Microbiology from Central South University, China, and an MSc from Ege University, Turkey, and has completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Shandong First Medical University, China. His research spans infectious diseases and respiratory virology (RSV and SARS-CoV-2), the lung–brain axis, immuno-oncology, cancer metabolism, the microbiome–gut–brain axis, and predictive, preventive and personalized medicine. He has held research and training positions in China, Italy, Turkey and The Gambia, including a PACTs fellowship at ICGEB, Trieste. Committed to science communication, capacity building, bioethics and African health equity, he publishes widely, wins research and training grants, supervises students, serves as Country Ambassador for the American Society for Microbiology and Country Representative for the Africa Bioethics Network, and co-founded the Gambian Society of Microbiology. He is fluent in English and Turkish and proficient in Mandarin and Spanish.