Dr Martin Walker
Martin is interested in the development and application of mathematical transmission and statistical models to: inform the design and implementation of interventions against tropical diseases; to assist with the design and optimisation of clinical trials of antiparasitic drugs, and to identify atypical antiparasitic drug responses potentially indicative of emerging drug resistance. Martin also has a number of methodological interests in statistical and mathematical aspects of infectious and non-infectious disease epidemiology.
Martin's current projects include:
Mathematical modelling of novel macrofilaricidal drugs for river blindness: from patients to populations? - Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative - This project involves the development of clinical trial simulators and infection transmission models to optimise the design of antifilarial drug trials and to assess the potential epidemiological impact of new treatments as complementary intervention tools to accelerate progress towards the elimination of filarial infections.
Evaluating variation among anthelmintic drug responses to support the control and elimination of human helminthiases (QuoVadis) - World Health Organization/TDR - This project involves evaluating variation in individuals’ responses to the drugs distributed to millions of people around the world as part of the World Health Organization’s strategy of preventative chemotherapy to control and eliminate human helminthiases. This work will define expected levels of inter-person variation in drug responses for use as a reference to identify suspicious or suboptimal responses—potentially indicative of emerging drug resistance—in people exposed to multiple rounds of mass drug administration.
Modelling alternative treatment strategies for onchocerciasis: moxidectin for control and elimination - Medicines Development for Global Health - This projects involves projecting the potential epidemiological impact of using moxidectin—repurposed from veterinary to human medicine—to accelerate progress towards the elimination of onchocerciasis (river blindness) in Africa. The work will translate existing individual data from phase II and phase III clinical trials that show superiority of moxidectin over ivermectin—the current gold standard treatment for onchocerciasis—into population-level health benefits and revised timelines to elimination.