Kirthana Senthil completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne under the joint supervision of Prof Scott Mueller, Prof Laura Downie and A/Prof Holly Chinnery. Her work spans both preclinical and clinical research, examining the long-term shifts in corneal nerves and immune cells following corneal herpes infections in mouse models and clinical participants. Kirthana also holds a Bachelor in Biomedicine (2017) and Master of Biomedical Science (2019) from the University of Melbourne.