Wendy P O'Meara

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.