In 2005 Ghani was appointed to the faculty at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Here she became interested in malaria, particularly the disease's complexity, and the need to understand many aspects of science and society to better control it.[5] She returned to Imperial College London in 2007, where she serves as Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Head of the Malaria Modelling Research Group.[5] Her research considers the epidemiology of infectious disease, including malaria, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, HIV, SARS and coronavirus.[6] She develops mathematical models that can better describe the transmission dynamics of malaria, to visualise how it impacts both humans and mosquitoes, and use this insight to fight the disease.[6][7] Ghani serves on the malaria policy advisory committee of the World Health Organization.[6] She was elected to the spongiform encephalopathy advisory committee.[8]
In 2017 Ghani was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences.[9] Through her understanding of infectious diseases, Ghani looks to better inform public health interventions.[10] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghani reported self-isolation, home quarantine and social distancing could limit the number of UK deaths caused by the coronavirus to 20,000.[11][12] She worked with Neil Ferguson to show that during the course of the pandemic, the National Health Service would become overwhelmed by the number of cases.[11][13]