Dr Naicker, Serisha

Dr Serisha Naicker is a registered Medical Scientist at the Mycology Reference Laboratory (MRL) in the Centre for Healthcare-Associated Infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research career at the NICD began as a Medical Scientist Intern in 2012 after completing a Master of Science in Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. She undertook her undergraduate studies at the same university and completed a Medical Scientist internship to register as part of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Naicker is currently pursuing a PhD in Medical Microbiology.
She performs molecular testing (identification and genotyping) on fungal pathogens and is involved in various research projects on fungal pathogens. Naicker has worked on the molecular epidemiology, antifungal susceptibility testing and virulence of clinical Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii isolates collected through GERMS-SA surveillance, which then became the subject of her PhD project. Her current research projects include yeasts, such as Candida auris and Candida glabrata, as well as moulds and dimorphic fungi.