Dr. Tibebu Habtewold is a Senior Lecturer at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and internationally recognized malaria vector biologist with over 20 years of experience. He led the development of the first transgenic mosquitoes created and tested on African soil—an unprecedented milestone in genetic malaria control—and established a CL3 gene-editing laboratory at the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania. This facility enabled local scientists to study genetically modified malaria vectors under secure containment and was pivotal to a landmark 2026 Nature publication demonstrating suppression of patient-derived malaria infections by gene-drive mosquitoes. Currently, he leads the Vector Biology group at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Centre, where he established advanced insectaries and trains scientists in vector ecology and genetics. His leadership contributed to securing major grants, including the $21 million Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation award, advancing gene drive technologies for scalable malaria control across Africa. He is deeply committed to mentoring scientists and building research capacity in low- and middle-income countries.