Skip to main content

Wendy P O'Meara

Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Infectious Diseases
Eldoret Kenya, Box 90519, Durham, NC 27710

Overview


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. 

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor of Medicine · 2023 - Present Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Medicine
Deputy Director, Duke Global Health Institute · 2023 - Present Duke Global Health Institute, University Institutes and Centers
Research Professor of Global Health · 2023 - Present Duke Global Health Institute, University Institutes and Centers
Professor in Population Health Sciences · 2024 - Present Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Departments

In the News


Published April 24, 2025
A Partnership That Set Out To Do Life-Saving Work
Published October 18, 2023
Researchers Identify Malaria Risk in Area of Kenya Thought Safe
Published October 19, 2022
Strengthening Community Health at Kenya's Partnership for Education and Academic Research Laboratory

View All News

Recent Publications


Relationship between malaria vector survival, infectivity and insecticide treated net use in western Kenya.

Journal Article Res Sq · March 18, 2024 BACKGROUND: Much effort and resources have been invested to control malaria transmission in Sub-Saharan Africa, but it remains a major public health problem. For the disease to be transmitted from one person to another, the female Anopheles vector must sur ... Full text Link to item Cite

bistro: An R package for vector bloodmeal identification by short tandem repeat overlap.

Journal Article Methods Ecol Evol · February 2024 Measuring vector-human contact in a natural setting can inform precise targeting of interventions to interrupt transmission of vector-borne diseases. One approach is to directly match human DNA in vector bloodmeals to the individuals who were bitten using ... Full text Link to item Cite
View All Publications

Recent Grants


Once Bitten: Acquisition of Malaria Adaptive Immunity (OBAMA - Immunity)

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · 2023 - 2028

Synthesizing immunoinformatics and genetic epidemiology to identify signatures of natural functional immunity to malaria parasites

ResearchMentor · Awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · 2023 - 2028

PEARL - Phase II

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation · 2023 - 2026

View All Grants

Education, Training & Certifications


Massachusetts Institute of Technology · 2003 Ph.D.

External Links


O'Meara lab website