Epidemiology & Demography

Bio

Sarah is a consultant paediatrician specializing in paediatric infectious disease. She works on the interactions between infection and nutrition in children with a particular focus on iron and the iron-regulating hormone, hepcidin. Sarah's PhD was based in The Gambia and at LSHTM where she investigated the role of iron-regulating genes in influencing susceptibility to malaria-related anemia. Sarah joined the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in 2004 and studied predictors of mortality in severely malnourished children, with an emphasis on the role of iron in relation to bacterial infection. Sarah returned to the UK in 2006 to complete her general paediatric and paediatric infectious disease training in Newcastle and Oxford. Sarah worked as a clinical lecturer in paediatrics and a locum consultant paediatrician in the Department of Paediatrics at Oxford University Hospitals before returning to Kilifi in April 2013. Sarah was awarded a Wellcome Career Development Award in 2021, working on Mendelian Randomization approaches to study the impact of micronutrients on outcomes relevant to public health

See more

Current Work

She works on the interactions between infection and nutrition in children with a particular focus on iron and the iron-regulating hormone, hepcidin.

See more

Recent publications

Observational study: 27 years of severe malaria surveillance in Kilifi, Kenya.
Njuguna, P., Maitland, K., Nyaguara, A., Mwanga, D., Mogeni, P., Mturi, N., Mohammed, S., Mwambingu, G., Ngetsa, C., Awuondo, K., Lowe, B., Adetifa, I., Scott, J. A. G., Williams, T. N., Atkinson, S., Osier, F., Snow, R. W., Marsh, K., Tsofa, B., Peshu, N., Hamaluba, M., Berkley, J. A., Newton, C. R. J., Fondo, J., Omar, A., Bejon, P.
BMC Med, (2019). 17:124

The population dynamics of hemoglobins A, A2, F and S in the context of the hemoglobinopathies HbS and alpha-thalassemia in Kenyan infants.
Macharia, A. W., Uyoga, S., Ndila, C., Nyutu, G., Makale, J., Tendwa, M., Nyatichi, E., Ojal, J., Atkinson, S., Williams, T. N.
Haematologica, (2019). 104:e184-e186

Diarrhoea complicating severe acute malnutrition in Kenyan children: a prospective descriptive study of risk factors and outcome.
Talbert, A., Thuo, N., Karisa, J., Chesaro, C., Ohuma, E., Ignas, J., Berkley, J. A., Toromo, C., Atkinson, S., Maitland, K.
PLoS One, (2012). 7:e38321

Hypothermia in children with severe malnutrition: low prevalence on the tropical coast of Kenya.
Talbert, A., Atkinson, S., Karisa, J., Ignas, J., Chesaro, C., Maitland, K.
J Trop Pediatr, (2009). 55:413-6

Haptoglobin HP2-2 genotype, alpha-thalassaemia and acute seizures in children living in a malaria-endemic area.
Idro, R., Williams, T. N., Gwer, S., Uyoga, S., Macharia, A., Opi, H., Atkinson, S., Maitland, K., Kager, P. A., Kwiatkowski, D., Neville, B. G., Newton, C. R.
Epilepsy Res, (2008). 81:114-8