My research interest is in infectious disease epidemiology, public health and development in low-income countries. The primary aim of my research is the development and evaluation of disease control strategies to improve health in resource-constrained environments, with a specific focus on malaria.
I have a particular interest in the epidemiology and control of malaria in school-aged children in sub-Saharan Africa, and the consequences of asymptomatic malaria infection on anaemia, cognition and education. I also have a keen interest in access to medicines and the quality of care, and public health interventions to improve the treatment of malaria and other childhood infections by community health workers, private clinics and drug shops.
I have led numerous intervention studies in sub-Saharan Africa, including randomised controlled trials to evaluate the impact of (i) malaria control in schools; (ii) seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) and nutritional interventions in pre-school children; (iii) perennial malaria chemoprevention (PMC) in early childhood; (iv) malaria prevention during pregnancy; (v) use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDTs) by CHWs and drug shop vendors; and (vi) integrated community case management (iCCM).
I have a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research, and the power of bringing insights and methods from multiple disciplines to work together to understand and search for solutions to pressing public health challenges.
- I am the LSHTM Programme Director of the MSc One Health, and LSHTM Co-Director of the OneZoo Centre for Doctoral Training, a multi-university PhD programme to address the environmental drivers of zoonoses.
- From 2017-2021 I was Co-Director of the LSHTM Malaria Centre - a multidisciplinary cross-faculty network of over 200 malaria researchers at LSHTM.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I am the LSHTM Co-Director of the OneZoo Centre for Doctoral Training, a multi-university PhD programme run in collaboration with Cardiff University, Aberwystwyth University and Queens University Belfast.
I am the LSHTM Programme Director of the MSc One Health, a masters course run jointly by the Royal Veterinary College and LSHTM
I have also been the academic co-ordinator of the MSc module on the "Epidemiology and Control of Malaria" at LSHTM for several years 2005-2009, 2015-2018.
I also teach on the following courses:
- MSc Public Health in Developing Countries
- MSc Control of Infectious Diseases
- MSc Epidemiology (distance learning)
- MSc Infectious Diseases (distance learning)
- Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H)
Research
My research has been instrumental in drawing attention to a hitherto overlooked aspect of malaria control: namely, the epidemiology and control of malaria in school-aged children in sub-Saharan Africa, and consequences of asymptomatic malaria infection on anaemia, cognition and education. I have conducted a number of seminal trials to investigate the impact of intermittent preventive treatment in schools (IPTs) - an approach which shows great promise for this age group - and which is now recommended by WHO, since 2022. Other work with Save the Children in Mali has explored the effect of combining seasonal malaria chemoprevention with micronutrient supplementation and cognitive stimulation on early child development and school-readiness.
My work on access to medicines and the quality of care, has focussed on evaluating community-based interventions and improving medical treatment in private sector drug shops. This research examines the following issues: sources of treatment in urban and rural settings; positionality and role of private providers within the health system; malaria diagnosis and treatment; iCCM; use of antimalarials and antibiotics; and quality of medicines. Recent work also adopts a One Health approach to address AMR and antimicrobial stewardship in veterinary and human drug shops.
Past research has also examined the spatial epidemiology of malaria in areas of seasonal transmission in West Africa, and low and unstable transmission in the East African Highlands.
I have worked in The Gambia, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Uganda.
Selected Publications
