Biography

Louisa Messenger is a UNLV School of Public Health researcher who specializes in the control of tropical infectious diseases transmitted by insects (vector-borne diseases). She is passionate about improving health outcomes for impoverished populations worldwide.

Her current research concentrates on developing and evaluating new insecticides, health interventions, and surveillance tools to interrupt malaria transmission throughout sub-Saharan Africa. An additional line of her research focuses on improving our understanding of Chagas disease dynamics among distinct epidemiological settings across Latin America.

Messenger has worked on research projects in more than 15 countries, and collaborated with organizations including the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative and the World Health Organization. Prior to joining UNLV, she was a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, completed a two-year American Society for Microbiology post-doctoral fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, held a L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science UK and Ireland fellowship, and led a U.S. Agency for International Development malaria clinical trial in Tanzania.

Messenger's work has been featured in multiple media outlets, including Reuters and BBC Radio 4. Her research findings have been published by the Lancet, Clinical Microbiology Reviews, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Journal of Infectious Diseases, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Nature Scientific Reports and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.