DrCharles Coughlan

My research focuses on improving the diagnosis and management of neurological infections, particularly in resource-constrained settings. I have previously led international teams in creating narrative reviews on cryptococcal meningitis and tetanus, and conducted analyses of antimicrobial prescribing patterns for suspected brain infection in high-HIV prevalence African settings using routinely collected data. I continue to support research activity in Bhutan, and at San Lazaro Hospital in Manila. 

My current work is supervised by Professor Aubrey Cunnington (Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Head of Department of Infectious Disease) and Dr Stephen Ray (Academic Clinical Lecturer in Paediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Oxford). I aim to discover and validate new diagnostic biomarkers of cerebral malaria and other forms of brain infection in Malawian children with acute encephalitis syndrome. We will also be working on prognostic signatures that can predict clinical outcomes in these children at hospital admission. I will travel to Malawi in early 2027 to undertake laboratory work.