College of Medicine associate professor’s 25-year love affair with a parasite


Rita Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D.

Rita Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D.

It’s not your ordinary Valentine’s Day story. The words passion and parasites don’t usually go together, but Rita Mukhopadhyay, associate professor of the Department of Cellular Biology and Pharmacology at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, says she first fell in love with the study of parasites when she was a master’s student in her native India.

One particular parasite, Leishmania, caught her eye – a genus of protozoan parasites spread by infected sand flies that sometimes cause a fatal disease called Kala-azar  or visceral leishmaniasis. There is no vaccine available and drug resistance is a major impediment to treatment.

Twenty-five years later, “the love affair [with parasitic research} is still going strong,” she says.

CDC image of skin ulcer due to leishmaniasis.

CDC image of skin ulcer due to leishmaniasis.

Mukhopadhyay and her work are featured in the latest edition of International Innovation, a highly respected research dissemination publication with a global audience.

This particular issue titled “A Passion for Progress” showcases the pioneering research of women scientists across the globe.

You can read the in-depth article online here.