Almost every minute, one child in Africa dies from malaria. Around the world, the mosquito-borne parasite kills about 450,000 people each year, most of them children and pregnant women, while another 200 million people suffer illness as a result of malaria infections.

Based in Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne, the Tilley lab led by Professor Leann Tilley is working as part of a global effort to understand and control malaria. Her lab investigates the basic biology of the parasite and action of and resistance to antimalarial drugs, with a view to designing better drugs.

In our podcast, Leann explains how cross-disciplinary collaboration is a key to the success of her lab. She is assisted by collaborations with experts from other disciplines, ranging from molecular parasitologists to organic chemists to biomechanical engineers and optical physicists.

As a Georgina Sweet Fellow, Leann is committed to supporting women through the Awards for Women in Quantitative Biomedical Science. You can listen to her thoughts about what the ARC could do to increase the number of women Laureates and Centre Directors.

Leann reflects on the attributes of an effective and successful academic in the video.