In her 20s, Dr. Mehreen Datoo contracted malaria while conducting research in Uganda. She was hospitalized before recovering. In the years since, her work has been central to the clinical development of the new malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, from early-phase clinical trials to regulatory approval. This year the vaccine was deployed. It’s now being administered to children in sub-Saharan Africa and will be game-changing in the fight against malaria, which in 2022 killed 608,000 people, three-quarters of them children under age 5.
A clinical lecturer and specialty trainee doctor in infectious diseases and microbiology at Oxford University, Mehreen has worked tirelessly over the past seven years with experts across multiple continents to achieve this goal. Her team’s efforts will help reduce the incidence of malaria globally, as well as have a direct impact on the health and quality of life of children and their families and communities.
Hill is director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University and led work on R21/Matrix-M