Rose Gana Fomban Leke

Rose Gana Fomban Leke is a Cameroonian malariologist and Emeritus Professor of Immunology and Parasitology at the University of Yaounde I. She was awarded the L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science in 2024.

Early life and education When Leke was growing up she suffered from malaria multiple times, it was a normal part of life. She was first interested in medicine due to treatment she received for lung abscess in Limbe when she was six years old. Her mother never went to school, however her father was a school teacher, and both encouraged her to pursue educational opportunities.

Research Professor Leke's research has focussed on pregnancy-associated malaria, in which even women who have developed immunity to the severest forms of malaria can be stricken by a life-threatening form of the disease, with implications on the health of the baby. She established a long-time collaboration with Diana Taylor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to investigate this condition.

Awards and recognition Leke has been a senior member of many organisations in the fields of immunology and malaria. She received the UNESCO-L’Oréal Award for Women in Science in 2024. Leke established the Cameroon Coalition Against Malaria. She served as president of the Federation of African Immunological Societies from 1997 to 2001, and as a council member of the International Union of Immunological Societies from 1998 to 2004. She was invited to deliver the 2014 Aggrey‐Fraser‐Guggisberg Memorial Lecture at the University of Ghana and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) degree by the same institution. In 2015, Leke was elected an honorary international fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She also founded the Higher Institute for Growth in Health Research for Women Consortium, aimed at mentoring women scientists in Cameroon. In 2018, Leke was honored as a Heroine of Health by Women in Global Health and General Electric Healthcare during the World Health Assembly in Geneva. In 2019, she was ceremonially named Queen Mother of the Cameroon Medical Community by the Cameroon Medical Council. Leke is a member of the World Health Organization Malaria Policy Advisory Committee and the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Polio Eradication.

Personal life Leke has many grandchildren.