Driving down malaria: Evidence, impact, and the race against resistance with Professor Jackie Cook
Inaugural lecture of Professor Jackie Cook
Despite effective interventions to prevent contact with malaria-infected mosquitoes, there are approximately 263 million malaria cases each year. Much of the reduction in transmission over the past 20 years has been credited to vector control targeting mosquitoes. However, long-term reliance on a single class of insecticide has reduced the effectiveness of these tools, and new strategies are urgently needed.
Professor Jackie Cook’s inaugural lecture will reflect on her work evaluating malaria control tools and trace her journey in malaria epidemiology from lab scientist to trial statistician. She will share how her passion for malaria began during her undergraduate studies and how her career has spanned several disciplines, all tied together by a focus on evaluating interventions that reduce malaria. The lecture will also explore the challenges and rewards of an academic career, highlighting the joys of collaboration, the frustrations of funding applications, and the ultimate goal of producing evidence that drives policy change.
The lecture will take place from 17:15 - 18:15, followed by a 1-hour in-person drinks reception in the Pumphandle Social.
Speaker
Professor Jackie Cook
Professor Jackie Cook is an infectious disease epidemiologist, who specialises in malaria and vector-borne diseases. She is currently Deputy Director of the International Statistics and Epidemiology Group and she previously co-directed the LSHTM Malaria Centre between 2022 and 2024. Her research currently focuses on vector control trials, generating evidence that impact WHO policy regarding interventions and help national malaria control programmes prioritise which interventions to invest in. She also has expertise in malaria transmission dynamics, particularly in low transmission settings, and immunoepidemiology.
Jackie has collaborators across the globe, and has worked particularly closely with institutions in Tanzania, where she spent 3 years based in Zanzibar, and across West Africa. Her work includes leading large cluster randomised control trials evaluating novel vector control tools and strategies, developing better methods for trials and examining heterogeneity of malaria transmission.
Event notices
- Please note that you can join this event in person or you can join the session remotely
- Please note that the recording link will be listed on this page when available
Admission
Contact
