Wendy Prudhomme O'Meara
Deputy Director, Duke Global Health Institute
Professor, Medicine and Global Health
Visiting lecturer, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
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Wendy Prudhomme O'Meara
Deputy Director, Duke Global Health Institute
Professor, Medicine and Global Health
Visiting lecturer, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
Dr. Wendy O’Meara is a Professor of Medicine and Global Health at Duke University, a visiting professor at Moi University, and the Deputy Director of the Duke Global Health Institute. She divides her time between the US and Kenya.
Dr. O’Meara has dedicated the last 20 years to community-based approaches for malaria treatment and prevention in East Africa. Her team’s work focuses on expanding access to accurate diagnosis and treatment, mapping silent reservoirs of transmission using parasite genetic signatures, and tackling emerging threats to malaria control in vulnerable populations. She serves on the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts for the Africa CDC and is an advocate for data justice and equitable data governance in global research.
Dr. O’Meara completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT. She then joined Fogarty International Center at the NIH to apply her quantitative and modeling skills to vector borne diseases. Her collaboration with KEMRI-Wellcome Trust using hospital surveillance data to understand malaria transmission led her to Kenya in 2007. The collaborative research program built with colleagues at Moi University is based in Eldoret, Kenya with hubs in western and northern Kenya. The team works closely with county health teams and frequently advises the Division of National Malaria Control.
Projects
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Spatial Scales of Plasmodium Falciparum Generations: Implications for Elimination
Kenya
- Impact of Spatial distribution of health services on child morbidity and mortality
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Developing a rapid assessment tool to identify bottlenecks to malaria prevention for elimination
Kenya
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You Get What You Look For: Emerging Infections in a Malaria Endemic Zone
Kenya
- Impact of spatial distribution of health services on child morbidity and mortality
Publications
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Lapp Z, Abel L, Mangeni J, Obala AA, O’Meara WP, Taylor SM, et al. bistro: An R package for vector bloodmeal identification by short tandem repeat overlap. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 2024 Feb 1;15(2):308–16.Ochomo EO, Milanoi S, Abong’o B, Onyango B, Muchoki M, Omoke D, et al. Detection of Anopheles stephensi Mosquitoes by Molecular Surveillance, Kenya. Emerg Infect Dis. 2023 Dec;29(12):2498–508.O’Meara WP, Maraga L, Meredith H, Esimit D, Lokoel G, Chepkwony T, et al. Plasmodium vivax Prevalence in Semiarid Region of Northern Kenya, 2019. Emerg Infect Dis. 2023 Nov;29(11):2385–7.Odhiambo FO, O’Meara WP, Abade A, Owiny M, Odhiambo F, Oyugi EO. Adherence to national malaria treatment guidelines in private drug outlets: a cross-sectional survey in the malaria-endemic Kisumu County, Kenya. Malar J. 2023 Oct 11;22(1):307.
See more publications at Scholars@Duke