Isaac Dennis Amoah is an Assistant Professor of Global Health (Biology) at Duke Kunshan University in China. An environmental health scientist and interdisciplinary scholar, his work lies at the intersection of environmental microbiology, global health, water quality, wastewater-based epidemiology, microbial risk assessment and emerging environmental pollutants.

Dr Amoah holds a PhD in Health Sciences, specialising in Environmental Health, from the Durban University of Technology in South Africa. His doctoral research, titled “The Risk Factors of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections: A Need for Appropriate Measurement Methods,” examined environmental exposure pathways and the methods used to assess infection risks.

Before joining Duke Kunshan University, Dr Amoah served as a Global Professor in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona’s Microcampus in Yangling, China. In this role, he contributed to the development and delivery of courses in Environmental Systems Biology, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Microbiology, while supporting interdisciplinary and internationally focused science education.

His earlier academic experience includes serving as a Lecturer at the Durban University of Technology, where he taught Environmental Law and contributed to teaching, curriculum development and research-programme implementation. As a Research Associate at the university’s Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, he played a leading role in developing wastewater-based epidemiological approaches for the surveillance of COVID-19, tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance.

Dr Amoah has led and contributed to several multidisciplinary research projects addressing water quality and public health. These include investigations into the influence of pollution sources on microplastics in urban rivers, the development of advanced molecular methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, the surveillance of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance, and the assessment of microbial health risks associated with water and wastewater exposure.

His research excellence has received national and international recognition. He is a South African National Research Foundation Y-rated researcher and a recipient of the International Water Association’s Willie Grabow Young Investigator Award for Health-Related Water Microbiology. He has also received the Best Published Researcher Award and the Best Published Doctoral Student Award from the Durban University of Technology.

Beyond research and teaching, Dr Amoah is committed to postgraduate supervision, academic mentorship and community engagement. Through his publications, international collaborations, conference contributions and leadership of multidisciplinary projects, he continues to advance evidence-based solutions to environmental and global health challenges.