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Gavin Mark Yamey

Hymowitz Family Professor of the Practice in Global Health
Duke Global Health Institute

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


Hymowitz Family Professor of the Practice in Global Health · 2022 - Present Duke Global Health Institute, University Institutes and Centers
Professor of the Practice of Global Health · 2015 - Present Duke Global Health Institute, University Institutes and Centers
Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy · 2015 - Present Sanford School of Public Policy
Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society · 2017 - Present Duke Science & Society, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units
Affiliate of the Duke Center for International Development · 2023 - Present Duke Center for International Development, Sanford School of Public Policy
Core Faculty Member, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy · 2024 - Present Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units

In the News


Published February 24, 2025
How a Club of Countries Can Help Prevent a Pandemic
Published February 10, 2025
Global Health Experts Discuss Impact of US Foreign Aid Freeze
Published November 6, 2024
Every Country Can Cut Premature Deaths by Half, Researchers Say

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Recent Publications


What are the key features of an equitable global vaccine strategy for the next pandemic? A qualitative study of pandemic control experts.

Journal Article Vaccine · June 2025 BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant weaknesses in global health multilateralism, particularly in its failure to achieve fair and equitable global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Soon after vaccines were available, huge inequitie ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Global Health 2050: Translating Analysis Into Policy

ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by New Venture Fund · 2024 - 2025

Lancet Commission on Investing in Health - CIH 3.0

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation · 2023 - 2025

Evidence generation for R&D ecosystem shifts

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation · 2023 - 2024

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Education, Training & Certifications


London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom) · 2010 M.P.H.
University College London (United Kingdom) · 1994 M.B.B.S.