Dr. Effua Usuf is a clinical epidemiologist and an associate professor at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRCG @ LSHTM). She serves as a member of the joint Gambia Government MRCG Ethics Committee, the Gambia Medical and Dental Council, and LSHTM Council. She trained as a medical doctor in Sierra Leone and Ghana and obtained her master’s and Ph.D. from the LSHTM. Her research, which aims to generate evidence for child health policies, has focused mainly on pneumococcal carriage and the impact of vaccines. She has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals. She is active in the COVID-19 national response and works closely with Epidemiology and Disease Control Department, Ministry of Health The Gambia.