Jemma Louise Geoghegan (born 1985 or 1986)[1] is a Scottish-born evolutionary virologist, based at the University of Otago, New Zealand, who specialises in researching emerging infectious diseases and the use of metagenomics to trace the evolution of viruses.
She was a recipient of the Young Tall Poppy Award in 2017, a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship in 2020, and the 2021 Prime Minister's Emerging Scientist Prize.
"[1] Writing in The Spinoff, the New Zealand-based scientist Siouxsie Wiles acknowledged Geoghegan as "one of the people behind New Zealand's incredible efforts to sequence all the strains of the virus we get here.
Considering the implications of this, one commentator wrote, "the only determinants of how many people will be sickened, disabled or killed by the virus are its evolutionary leaps and our actions to shape its environment.
She said factors such as "rapidly replicating and infecting cells inside a chronic, immunocompromised person...[or]...a recombination of different variants, perhaps in an animal host" could affect this.
"[20] In May 2020, Geoghegan told The Sydney Morning Herald, that the best way to gain knowledge of possible prediction of viruses is to fund surveillance of people, particularly in places where they interact with live animals and identify the "risk zones"[21] Introduced by Kate Hawkesby on Newstalk ZB as "an expert in genome sequencing", Geoghegan explained that when a virus jumps from person to person, it creates a new mutation that could be tracked in terms of origin and possible spread in the community.
[23] The article noted that as of 2023 there had been no cases of the variants in New Zealand, but cautioned the country was vulnerable because of the high number of migratory birds that come each year, some of which may experience asymptomatic infections.
These would include raising awareness when there are unexpected deaths of animals, increasing targeting of known pathogens and maximising the use of the "viral genomics capabilities...established during COVID-19.
[24] By August 2020, the team was able to show genomic sequencing confirming that the origin of the virus in New Zealand was from overseas, and was mostly spread within the country at social gatherings.
[27] Following the second outbreak of the virus in the New Zealand community in August 2020, Geoghegan said:It is vital that genomics is part of this response to enable us to track where these cases may have arisen and to estimate the size and number of clusters present...[and]...by comparing the virus genomes from these cases to those from both the quarantine facilities and the global population, we can determine their likely origin and how long they have been circulating in the community.
[28] In November 2020, when an aircrew member who had arrived in New Zealand from overseas tested positive, Geoghegan reiterated the importance of genome sequencing to establish whether the virus related to local or global infections and the likelihood that transmission of the cases occurred during the flight.
She said that the variant did contain a "few mutations that were likely increasing the rate of transmission...[but]...the biggest driver of virus spread is a population that doesn't have any immunity, which is basically all of New Zealand.
[36] In North & South magazine, Paul Gorman wrote that "hundreds, if not thousands, of New Zealanders are still alive thanks to Geoghegan and colleagues tracking outbreaks of the Delta variant during the elimination phase of the pandemic.