Wendy O’Meara
Wendy O’Meara
Associate Professor of Medicine and Global Health, Duke University and Duke Global Health Institute
Visiting Professor, Moi University
Dr. Wendy O’Meara is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Global Health at Duke University, visiting professor at Moi University, and the Deputy Director of the Duke Global Health Institute. She was based full-time in Kenya from 2007-2021 where she was seconded to Moi University. Dr. O’Meara’s team focuses primarily on malaria, using implementation science approaches for understanding how to improve rational drug use for suspected malaria fevers through expanding the use of diagnostic tools in the community and in health facilities. Another major emphasis of her work is to identify silent reservoirs of malaria by elucidating transmission networks at very fine scales by leveraging parasite genetics in both the human and mosquito host. Understanding the connectivity of transmission networks can lead to precision public health interventions that target highly connected nodes or ‘super-spreaders’. In her leadership role at the Duke Global Health Institute, she is helping to foster dialogue around what it looks like to build equitable partnerships and what we need to do to decolonize our global health research partnerships.
Recommended related readings:
Opinion: It’s Time To End The Colonial Mindset In Global Health
Kumar A. Five years from now, who will be setting the global health agenda? BMJ Global Health 2021;6:e008045. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-008045