Dr. Sulochana Manandhar is a postdoctoral molecular microbiologist with a research focus on bacterial infections, particularly in neonatal populations, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mechanisms, and antimicrobial stewardship. She brings extensive laboratory and clinical research experience, alongside a strong commitment to locally driven, evidence-based innovation that addresses national public health priorities in Nepal while contributing to global scientific knowledge.
At OUCRU Nepal, Dr. Manandhar has led and contributed to several high-impact research initiatives, including studies on neonatal sepsis, antimicrobial stewardship interventions, hospital infection outbreaks, and AMR surveillance through the ACORN network. She has also been involved in adaptive clinical trials for respiratory viral infections, including influenza (AD-ASTRA) and SARS-CoV-2 (PLATCOV). As an awardee of the MODRA Cohort-1 Seed Award 2025, she led her first independent clinical study investigating the prevalence, serotypes, genetic variability, drug-susceptibility, and risk factors of vertically transmitted Group B Streptococcus (GBS) and other potential pathogens among mother-newborn pair in Nepal.
Recently, Dr. Manandhar was awarded an OUCRU PSC-2025 Research Grant to lead a multi-site collaborative clinical study examining the mechanisms and interfaces underlying the emergence, evolution, and transmission of carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-HvKp). Identified by the World Health Organization in 2024 as an urgent and rapidly emerging public health threat, CR-HvKp combines extreme antimicrobial resistance with heightened invasiveness. The study integrates clinical, epidemiological, genomic, and spatiotemporal modelling approaches to elucidate transmission dynamics in Asian hospital settings with high carbapenem use and suboptimal infection control, aiming to inform targeted prevention and control strategies
