Members of the “Fragments of the Forest” Project Completing PhDs
Moussa Douno, John Soleemulo Fayiah, and Shadrach Kerwillain Successfully Defended Their Dissertations
02.07.2026
On Friday, 26 June, three ProEnviron doctoral candidates—Moussa Douno, John Soleemulo Fayiah, and Shadrach Kerwillain—successfully defended their dissertations to an academic public audience.
All three candidates are members of the research project, “Fragments of the Forest: Hot Zones, Disease Ecologies, and the Changing Landscape of Environment and Health in West Africa,” led by Prof. Dr. Gregg Mitman and supported by a European Research Council Advanced Grant (2021–26).
Moussa Douno (MD, MPH, MS), a medical anthropologist, presented on “Living in the Lassa Belt: Biomedical Research, Extractive Exchange, and the Weight of Viral Atmospheres in Liberia.” Moussa studies the history of scientific research on the Lassa virus, as well as discourses around the scientific notion of “disease hotspots” in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia with different—and heretofore unexplained—incidences of Lassa.
John Soleemulo Fayiah (MS), a molecular biologist and biotechnologist, examined “Disease Ecologies, Extractive Enclaves, and the Transformation of Health Infrastructure in Liberia.” Drawing on archival research and oral histories from retired plantation workers, miners, and biomedical personnel, John’s research traces the historical relationships between landscape change, labor migration, and diseases such as trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and onchocerciasis on the Firestone Plantations Company and the Liberian-American Swedish Mining Company (LAMCO). Bridging environmental history and medical history, his work explores how corporate medicine and shifting health infrastructures shaped tropical diseases and access to care across twentieth-century Liberia.
Shadrach Kerwillain (MPhil), a conservation biologist, presented on “Forest in the Making: History, Power, and Socio-Ecological Change in Liberia.” Shadrach has worked extensively on biodiversity conservation and natural resources management across Liberia with governmental, nongovernmental, private sector, and rural forested communities to promote the adoption of sustainable landscape management practices. His active research focuses on balancing conservation and development through interventions that work for people and the environment.
Congratulations to all three researchers on their successful defense!