Jeanine Loonen, MSc

Guest researcher – Medical Entomologist MSF

Artsen zonder Grenzen/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Public Health Department
Plantage Middenlaan 14
1018DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Email: jeanine.loonen@amsterdam.msf.org

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Story

Mosquitoes have fascinated me for many years, the health impact that such a small insect can have on communities is incredible and I wanted to play a role in the fight against mosquito-borne diseases. During my biology studies at Wageningen University & Research, I developed methods for colour marking of mosquitoes to facilitate experiments with different malaria mosquito species and I went to Suriname, to study the effect of biological control agents against Aedes mosquitoes.

Now I work as a medical entomologist for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and I am a guest researcher at the OHE team. We have developed a rapid entomological assessment, which I perform in different MSF projects around the world. The objective is to identify the main malaria vectors and their behaviour to develop the best vector control interventions for a specific project. Since most of the MSF project are located in emergency contexts, not much is known about the local malaria vectors. A story of one of my field trips to a refugee camp in Ethiopia can be found here.

When I am not spending time with mosquitoes, I love to go walking and travel to discover new areas and cultures.

Collaborators

I collaborate with several groups of Wageningen University & Research (Entomology group, Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group, BioNanoTechnology group) and I collaborate with the medical entomologists of the other MSF sections.