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
Barriers and facilitators to implementing comprehensive sex education in Texas public schools: A qualitative study.
Journal Article PloS one · January 2025 IntroductionIn Texas, the adolescent birth rate is higher than the national average and STIs have steadily increased over the last decade. Sex education is not mandated in Texas and the majority of public schools provide an abstinence-based sex ed ... Full text CiteCorrection: Barriers and facilitators to implementing comprehensive sex education in Texas public schools: A qualitative study.
Journal Article PloS one · January 2025 [This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0316329.]. ... Full text CiteHalving premature death and improving quality of life at all ages: cross-country analyses of past trends and future directions.
Journal Article Lancet (London, England) · December 2024 BackgroundAlthough death in old age is unavoidable, premature death-defined here as death before age 70 years-is not. To assess whether halving premature mortality by 2050 is feasible, we examined the large variation in premature death rates befor ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Global Health 2050: Translating Analysis Into Policy
ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by New Venture Fund · 2024 - 2025Lancet Commission on Investing in Health - CIH 3.0
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation · 2023 - 2025Evidence generation for R&D ecosystem shifts
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation · 2023 - 2024View All Grants