Bouke de Jong completed her training in clinical infectious diseases at the Universities of Amsterdam, Nevada, and Stanford. Her focus on the molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis in San Francisco brought her to The Gambia, where she developed an interest in TB transmission and the M. tuberculosis complex member Mycobacterium africanum. After an MSc in epidemiology at the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences and PhD at the University of Amsterdam, Dr. de Jong joined the Division of Infectious Diseases at New York University as Assistant Professor in 2007.
Since 2010 Dr. de Jong heads the Unit of Mycobacteriology at the Institute of Tropical Medicine. Besides tuberculosis, she studies Buruli Ulcer and leprosy, focusing on improved diagnostics and treatment, as well as molecular epidemiological studies on the impact of public health interventions to reduce transmission, for which she was supported by an ERC starting grant. Together with a very capable team she (co)supervises PhD students from different (endemic) countries.
Research lines
- Improved molecular (resistance) diagnostics for leprosy, Buruli ulcer, and tuberculosis
- Phylogeography, phylodynamics, and molecular epidemiology of M. ulcerans, M. tuberculosis, and M. leprae in the context of intervention studies
- Optimized treatment for M. tuberculosis