Deputy Director, Infectious Diseases and Deputy Director, Research, West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana.

Dr. Peter Kojo Quashie is the Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases and Deputy Director for Research at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana. He is also a Senior Research Fellow and Principal Investigator in Molecular Virology, leading research on HIV, SARS-CoV-2, and other epidemic-prone RNA viruses, with a focus on host-virus interactions and antiviral therapeutics.

Dr. Quashie holds a PhD in Experimental Medicine from McGill University and completed postdoctoral training in Structural Virology at the University of Toronto under a CIHR Banting Fellowship.

At WACCBIP, he leads the Molecular Virology Group and has been instrumental in Ghana’s COVID-19 response, coordinating research on virus surveillance, immune responses, and therapeutic discovery. He also investigates how endemic conditions like malaria affect viral infection and immunity in West African populations.

He is the Principal Investigator for the Ghana site of the Global Immunology and Immune Sequencing for Epidemic Response (GIISER) program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and leads the WACCBIP HIV Long-Term Cohort Study, which tracks 1,000 newly diagnosed HIV patients.

As Deputy Director for the DELTAS II project, Dr. Quashie oversees infectious disease research, supports postdoctoral development, and leads science communication and stakeholder engagement.

A leading voice in HIV research, he was the first to report that HIV mutations R263K and G118R conferred resistance to Dolutegravir—a key insight that shaped global antiretroviral strategies.

Dr. Quashie contributes to national health policy through his work with Ghana’s National Vaccine Institute (NVI), where he has served on the Vaccine R&D Committee. In 2022, he joined an international delegation to Cuba—co-led by Dr. Jeanne Marrazo (now NIAID Director)—to study their COVID-19 vaccine program. In 2025, he joined Ghana’s NVI CEO stakeholders at the World Vaccine Congress to help shape the country’s vaccine R&D roadmap.

He has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and mentored several postdoctoral fellows, over 20 graduate students, and numerous undergrads and interns.