Nicole Achee

Research Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame

“Shaping Global Health Policy: Example of translational research for vector control”


Nicole L. Achee is a PhD Medical Entomologist (Research Associate Professor) within the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame.  She joined the Eck Institute for Global Health faculty in 2013, following a 2-year position as Assistant Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. She has a combined 15 years of experience in vector behavior research related to the epidemiology and control of arthropod-borne diseases including evaluation of vector ecology, habitat management and adult control strategies, disease risk modeling using GIS and remote sensing technologies, and evaluation of chemical actions against mosquito vectors under both laboratory and field conditions. She has worked in the international settings of Belize, Mexico, Peru, Suriname, Indonesia, Nepal, South Korea, Thailand, and Tanzania. Achee was the principal investigator of a research program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focused on the development of spatial repellents as stand-alone tools or use in combination push-pull systems to reduce human-vector contact for dengue prevention. She is a consultant for the WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES), is an Executive Council member of the American Committee of Medical Entomology (ACME), a member of the WHO Global Collaboration for the Development of Pesticides for Public Health partnership (GCDPP), and served as the lead scientist for the recent publication of the WHO Guidelines for Efficacy Testing of Spatial Repellents. She is currently preparing for a multicenter intervention trial to generate evidence of the protective efficacy of spatial repellents for prevention of malaria and dengue human infections for use towards full WHO recommendations.