Dr Ilona Carneiro BSc DPhil

Lecturer in Infectious Disease Epidemiology

I graduated in Biology from Imperial College in 1993, and completed my doctorate at the Zoology Department of Oxford University in 1997. My DPhil thesis was on the epidemiology of non-severe falciparum malaria in Papua New Guinea, using molecular biological techniques and statistical analysis to investigate issues of parasite virulence, host susceptibility and dynamics of infection. I joined LSHTM in August 1997 and worked with Professor Paul Fine to prepare a working paper for the Global Poliomyelitis Eradication Initiative (WHO). In April 1998 I joined the DfID Malaria Knowledge Programme, and then in April 2005 I joined the DfID Communicable Disease Consortium (TARGETS) focussing on malaria and child health epidemiology. Since 2007 I have been working remotely from Madrid, Spain.

Affiliation

Teaching

I am Deputy Module Organiser of the Basic Epidemiology Module (PH101) on the Public Health Distance-Learning MSc. I am a member of the exam board (2002 - to date) and was a tutor (1999-2005) for the Public Health in Developing Countries MSc. I teach on the Control & Epidemiology of Malaria Study Unit (which I co-organised from 2000-2005). I have just completed co-editing a textbook on "Introduction to Epidemiology" as part of the "Understanding Public Health" series, which will be published in September 2011.

Research

My current research focuses on the epidemiology of malaria in different transmission settings. With colleagues, I have recently described the age-pattern of malaria disease and death in children in sub-Saharn Africa as part of a project on the "Applicability of Intermittent Presumptive Treatment in Infants (IPTi)" in collaboration with the Swiss Tropical Institute (funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - BMGF). We have also developed an internet-based tool to aid policymakers in determining where IPTi may be most effective (http://ipti.lshtm.ac.uk/).

I have undertaken the data analysis of two IPTi trials: one with Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP) in Navrongo, Ghana (funded by DfID), the main results of which were published in the BMJ, and another looking alternative antimalarials at different transmission intensities in North Eastern Tanzania (funded by BMGF), published in The Lancet. A standardised pooled analysis of six SP trials was also undertaken and published in The Lancet.

I am also involved in several trials of insect repellents for the prevention of malaria in Bolivia (published in the BMJ), in China (in preparation) and in Laos (underway).

I have completed work on assessing the proportion of anaemia attributable to malaria for the WHO, and estimating the burden of malarial disease as part of the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) co-ordinated by WHO. I am also interested in identifying appropriate cross-sectional indicators of malaria transmission intensity and burden of disease.

Previous work includes an MRC-funded research project in North-eastern Tanzania to assess the relationship between malaria transmission intensity (using altitude as a proxy measure) and the burden of malaria, analysis of a trial on mosquito repellents in Bolivia (funded by the Gates Malaria Partnership at LSHTM), analysis of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in North-Eastern Tanzania (funded by MRC), a project on the evaluation of a modified kerosene lamp for personal protection from mosquitoes which usese appropriate technology and would be accessible to the very poor (funded by GMP-LSHTM), and studies of urban malaria in Surat, India (funded by DfID).

Disciplines

  • Epidemiology
  • Statistics

Disease and Health Conditions

  • Malaria

Other interests

  • Burden Of Disease
  • MARCH
  • Malaria Centre
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