Professor Wendy Prudhomme-O’Meara

Country: Kenya & United States

Institution: Duke University and Moi University

Research Areas: Malaria

Lab Website: https://sites.duke.edu/wpomeara

Dr. O’Meara’s team is interested in two major themes. First, improving rational drug use for suspected malaria fevers through expanding the use of diagnostic tools in the community and in health facilities. As many as 90% of fevers that seek treatment in the formal sector receive antimalarials, and it is estimated that only 20% of those buying antimalarials over-the-counter in the retail sector actually have malaria. Such overuse poses a significant threat to the continued efficacy of first-line antimalarials. We have conducted several randomized controlled trials in western Kenya to test interventions designed to improve the use of information from malaria diagnostic testing in order to target antimalarials to those with confirmed infection. Second, we are exploring innovative approaches to measuring malaria transmission and identifying the human infectious reservoir, specifically leveraging variability in key parasite genes to describe the spatial mixing of malaria infections and track generations of infections from humans to mosquitoes (collaboration with Steve Taylor’s lab).