Haley Keene is a rising junior attending Roanoke College. She is from Abingdon, Virginia. She is majoring in biochemistry with plans off attending a medical school in her future. During her time at Roanoke College, Haley has become proficient in Excel data processing, NMR spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. She has experience in gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, riding her bike, and going out to eat with friends.
Haley is currently working with Dr. Johann on the project “Development of Methodologies to Analyze Antimalarial Drugs from Developing Nations.” As she explains, malaria is a disease caused by a parasite that is typically transmitted through mosquitoes. It can be serious and sometimes fatal to the infected. Coartem is a drug that is used to treat malaria. It has been estimated that thousands of individuals die each year from antimalarial drugs like Coartem that are not up to standard or have been falsified. Many developing countries do not have the resources necessary to test these drugs. This project, with samples sent by Notre Dame from developing countries, would involve analyzing the drug Coartem and making sure it is up to standard. Producing a method to analyze Coartem could potentially save the lives of those suffering from subpar antimalarial medication.