Adriano Mendes

Adriano was born in South Africa and grew up in Johannesburg. He attended Rhodes University where he completed a BSc in Microbiology and Biochemistry. After completing an MSc at Rhodes, Adriano was fortunate enough to receive a Fulbright Scholarship to attend Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. Adriano completed his PhD at Purdue in Molecular Virology and has since come back to South Africa.

Adriano is currently a Post-Doctoral Research fellow at the University of Pretoria where he continues to carry out virus research. Adriano’s research involves developing surveillance and diagnostic tools to study febrile and respiratory viruses as well as assessing the impact of these viruses on human and animal health, often referred to as One-Health.