Since 2003, my professional focus has been clinical and implementation research on malaria diagnostic strategies and management of febrile patients in malaria-endemic areas. These interests have led to current work on infectious causes of fever, antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance.
Previous affiliations include the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) in Uganda and Switzerland, and the Makerere University – University of California, San Francisco malaria research collaboration in Uganda.
My educational history includes degrees in anthropology (BA, University of Iowa), medicine (MD, Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York), and coursework in public health (University of California, Berkeley), as well as clinical training in internal medicine (Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, New York) and infectious diseases (University of California, San Francisco).
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I teach on LSHTM's Epidemiology & Control of Malaria module; the Epidemiology & Control of Communicable Disease module; the Infectious Disease Research Design, Management & Analysis distance learning course; the AMR Centre's summer short course; as of 2019, the Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene course; and as of 2021, the Clinical Bacteriology modules. I also mentor Master's and doctoral students.
Research
I have served as investigator and coordinator for numerous efficacy, effectiveness, and implementation studies of point-of-care diagnostic tests in children, adults and pregnant women, and for evaluations of fever case management strategies. I have been based primarily in Uganda, and have also conducted collaborative research in other African and southeast Asian countries.
In 2018 we began FIEBRE (Febrile Illness Evaluation in a Broad Range of Endemicities), a prospective study of infectious causes of fever, and of antibiotic resistance, in inpatients and outpatients of all ages at multiple sites in Africa and Asia.
Other recent or ongoing projects include synthesis of research results from ACT Consortium studies of malaria rapid diagnostic test (mRDT) implementation in various endemic settings; investigation of pfhrp2/3 gene deletions in P. falciparum that may affect mRDT results; a collaborative effort to map data on non-malaria febrile illness; and a prospective study of the introduction of diagnostic tools for outpatient fever case management at multiple sites in Africa and Asia.
My work includes collaboration with other academic researchers as well as with scientists and public health experts from the WHO, non-profit organizations, funding agencies, and diagnostics developers.
Selected Publications
