Overview
Gavin Yamey, MD, MPH, trained in clinical medicine at Oxford University and University College London, medical journalism and editing at the BMJ and public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He was Deputy Editor of the Western Journal of Medicine, Assistant Editor at the BMJ, a founding Senior Editor of PLOS Medicine, and the Principal Investigator on a $1.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the launch of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. In 2009, he was awarded a Kaiser Family Mini-Media Fellowship in Global Health Reporting to examine the barriers to scaling up low cost, low tech health tools in Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.
Dr. Yamey serves on two international health commissions, the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health and the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. He has been an External Advisor to the WHO and to TDR, the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. Dr. Yamey has published extensively on global health, neglected diseases, health policy, and disparities in health and has been a frequent commentator on National Public Radio.
Before joining Duke, Dr. Yamey led the Evidence-to-Policy Initiative in the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and was an Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatics at the UCSF School of Medicine.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
The New U.S. Global Health Strategy - A Reset of America's Health Cooperation.
Journal Article N Engl J Med · December 4, 2025 Full text Link to item CiteHow can middle-income countries successfully transition away from international health aid?
Journal Article PLoS medicine · November 2025 Recent research has examined factors contributing to the successful transition of middle-income countries away from international health aid. Three factors are especially important: effective leadership, using domestic resources to close the financing gap ... Full text CiteVaccine value profile for schistosomiasis.
Journal Article Vaccine · October 2025 Schistosomiasis is caused by parasitic flatworms (Schistosoma). The disease in humans can be caused by seven different species of Schistosoma: S. mansoni, S. japonicum, S. haematobium, S. malayensis, S. mekongi, S. guineensis and S. intercalatum, as well a ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Can we achieve a 50% reduction in global under-five mortality by 2050?
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation · 2025 - 2026View All Grants