Virology in her DNA

Dr Cardosa sharing her experience in virology with the audience during a lecture on ‘Virology in the jungle: Pay Attention to What Matters to Local Communities’ at the Penang Institute.

WHEN Dr Mary Jane Cardosa was offered the position of a researcher in the Sarawak forest, she jumped at the chance even when her boss told her she was out of her mind.

The Penang-born doctor, who was then in her 40s and a lecturer at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), received the offer from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak to set up the first virology unit in Borneo.