Professor Sarah Staedke is a clinical epidemiologist with specialist training in infectious diseases and global public health. She studied medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and completed her clinical training in Internal Medicine (University of Colorado) and Infectious Diseases (University of California, San Francisco) before earning a PhD from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Prof Staedke was previously based in Uganda with the Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (1999-2022) and was on faculty at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine from 2006-2022. She joined LSTM in 2022 as a Professor of Malaria & Global Health, based at Kenya Medical Research Institute’s Centre for Global Health Research in Kisumu, western Kenya. 

Prof Staedke’s main research interest is the epidemiology of malaria and the evaluation of new interventions to prevent and treat malaria. She has led studies focusing on the efficacy and safety of antimalarial drugs, methods to improve quality of care and fever case management, surveillance of malaria-related morbidity and mortality, malaria transmission, and novel approaches to prevent and control malaria, including chemoprevention, long-lasting insecticidal nets and spatial repellents. Her research portfolio is diverse, including large cluster-randomised trials, clinical trials, transmission studies, surveillance programs, qualitative research, and economic evaluations. She is particularly interested in strengthening sustainable research capacity in East Africa through mentorship of early-career scientists and engagement with policymakers to translate research findings into effective policies.

Prof Staedke lectures on clinical malaria for diploma and master’s programs in tropical medicine and international health at LSTM and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and supervises MSc and PhD students. Thesis topics for current PhD students focus on evaluating the impact of malaria control strategies across East Africa, including novel vector control tools in Uganda and Kenya, economic evaluations of vector control in Uganda, and understanding malaria epidemic dynamics and the effectiveness of control measures in Uganda.