Prof. Dr. med. Olaf Müller
Senior Scientist, Professor for public health
Olaf Müller is a specialist in Global Health and head of the interdisciplinary working group Disease Control in Disadvantaged Populations at HIGH. He studied biology, medicine and public health at the University of Hannover and the Free University of Berlin, Germany, and received his Dr. med. in Tropical Medicine in 1990. In 2004 he habilitated in Public Health at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg.
Before being employed at the Heidelberg University, he was trained in paediatrics and internal medicine at the University Hospital in Berlin/Germany. Afterwards he worked in the field of infectious disease control for the International Red Cross in Kampala/Uganda, for the German Federal Health Office in Berlin/Germany, for the GTZ in Kinshasa/Zaire and Eschborn/Germany, and for the British Medical Research Council Laboratories in Farafenni/The Gambia. His research interests are in the areas of tropical infectious disease control, in particular malaria and HIV/AIDS, but also in the area of neglected diseases and malnutrition. He was the principal investigator on a number of facility-based and community-based clinical trials, mainly in the field of interventions against childhood diseases in Africa. He has published more than 200 scientific articles, including in The New England Journal of Medicine, BMJ, The Lancet, Lancet Infectious Diseases, Lancet Global Health, and PLOS Medicine.
Education
2007 Extraordinary Professor for Public Health at the Medical Faculty of the Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg, Germany
2004 Habilitation (thesis topic: “Development of new strategies for malaria control in Africa“) at the Medical Faculty of the Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg, Germany.
1993 MPH (thesis topic: “The global impact of voluntary HIV counselling and testing services on the prevention of HIV and AIDS") at the Medical School, University of Hannover/Germany
1990 Dr. med. (thesis topic: “Prevalence and differential diagnosis of hepatomegaly in south-east Zaire”) at the Medical School, Free University of Berlin, Germany
1986 Medical Approbation, Medical School, Free University of Berlin, Germany
Contributions
Projects & Grants
Various grants from different donors (e.g. DFG, WHO, Gates Foundation, pharmaceutical companies), amounting to 6 million Euro over the last 25 years
Olaf Müller has been the principal investigator and co-investigator on grants for large community-based studies from a number of science funders, such as the German Science Foundation, MRC The Gambia, the European Union, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organization. He has also received research funding from the German Academic Exchange Service, from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Gesundheit and from industry.
Publications
Olaf Müller has published a number of books in the field of Global Health as well as numerous book chapters.
Key publications over the last 5 years (2019-23)
Saha A, Sarker M, Kabir M, Müller O. Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding malaria control among the Jhum Cultivators in Rangamati Hill tracts of Bangladesh. Malaria Journal 18:216 (2019)
Mendes Jorge M, Ouermi L, Meissner P, Compaoré G, Coulibaly B, Nebie E, Krisam J, Klose C, Kieser M, Jahn A, Lu G, D`Alessandro U, Sie A, Mockenhaupt FP, Müller O. Safety and efficacy of artesunate-amodiaquine combined with either methylene blue or primaquine in children with falciparum malaria in Burkina Faso: a randomized controlled trial. PLoS One 14(10):e0222993
Fekri Dureab, Albrecht Jahn, Johannes Krisam, Asma Dureab, Omar Zain, Sameh Al-Awlaqi, Müller O. Risk Factors Associated with the Recent Cholera Outbreak in Yemen: A Case-Control Study. Epidemiology and Health 41: e2019015 (2019)
Oliver Razum, Devi Sridhar, Albrecht Jahn, Zaidi S, Gorik Ooms, Olaf Müller. Polio: From eradication to sustained control. BMJ Global Health e001633 (2019)
Müller O, Lu G, Von Seidlein L. Review: Geographic spread of Artemisinin resistance. Journal of Travel Medicine 26:4 (2019)
Müller O, Lu G. Editorial. How worthwhile is methylene blue as a treatment of malaria? Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy doi.org/10.1080/14787210.2019.1634545 (2019)
Müller O, Lu G, Jahn A, Razum O. Malaria eradication. The Lancet 395: e68 (2020)
Olaf Müller, Florian Neuhann, Oliver Razum. Epidemiologie und Kontrollmaßnahmen bei COVID-19. Dtsch med Wochenschr DOI: 10.1055/a-1162-1987 (2020)
Olaf Müller, Guangyu Lu, Albrecht Jahn, Oliver Razum. COVID-19 control: can Germany learn from China? International Journal of Health Policy and Management 9 (10): 432-35 (2020)
Lemma GW, Renosa MD, Lu G, Müller O. GW eradication. Challenges in the last mile of the global Guinea Worm Eradication Program: A systematic review. Tropical Medicine & International Health 25 (12): 1432-40 (2020)
Lu G. Razum O, Jahn A, Zhang Y, Sutton B, Sridhar D, Ariosha K, von Seidlein L, Müller O. Health Policy: COVID-19 in Germany and China: mitigation versus elimination strategy. Global Health Action 14: 1 (2021)
Lu G, Li Y, Müller O. Imported covid-19 cases: a hot topic with a lack of a clear definition. International Journal of Infectious Diseases 105: 389-90 (2021)
Müller O, Lu G, Razum O, Jahn A. Reply to "Focusing COVID-19 vaccinations on elderly and high-risk people". Lancet Regional Health Europe March 28 (2021)
Chen Q, Li D, Beiersmann C, Neuhann F, Moazen B, Lu G, Müller O. Risk factors for healthcare sector-associated antibiotic resistance development in China: a systematic review. Epidemiology and Infection 149. e141, 1-10 (2021)
Müller O, Razum O, Jahn A. Effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions against COVID-19 on the incidence of other diseases. Lancet Regional Health Europe July 6: 100139 (2021) doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2021.100139
Dun-Dery F, Meissner P, Beiersmann C, Naasednibe K, Winkler V, Jahn A, Müller O. Uptake of intermittent preventive malaria therapy among pregnant women in the Upper West Region of Ghana: A mixed-methods study. Parasite Epidemiology and Control (2021) doi.org/10.1016/j.parepi.2021.e00222
Anna-Katharina Heuschen, Guangyu Lu, Oliver Razum, Alhassan Abdul-Mumin, Osman Sankoh, Lorenz von Seidlein, Umberto D`Alessandro, Olaf Müller. Public health relevant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review. Malaria Journal 20: 339 (2021)
Rashid Mansoor; Robert James Commons; Nicholas M Douglas; Benjamin Abuaku; Jane Achan; Ishag Adam; George O Adjei; Martin Adjuik; Bereket H Alemayehu; Richard Allan; Elizabeth N Allen; Anupkumar R Anvikar; Emmanuel Arinaitwe; Elizabeth A Ashley; Hazel Ashurst; Puji Buti Setia Asih; Nathan Bakyaita; Hubert Barennes; Kaen I Barnes; Leonardo Basco; Quique Bassat; Elisabeth Baudin; David J Bell; Delia Bethell; Anders Bjorkman; Caroline Boulton; Teun Bousema; Philippe Brasseur; Hasifa Bukirwa; Rebekah Burrow; Verena I Carrara; Michel Cot; Umberto D'Alessandro; Debashish Das; Sabyasachi Das; Timothy ME Davis; Meghna Desai; Abdoulaye A Djimde; Arjen M Dondorp; Grant Dorsey; Chris J Drakeley; Stephan Duparc; Emmanuelle Espie; Jean-Francois Etard; Catherine Falade; Jean Francois Faucher; Scott Filler; Carole Fogg; Mark Fukuda; Oumar Gaye; Blaise Genton; Awab Ghulam Rahim; Julius Gilayeneh; Raquel Gonzalez; Rebecca F Grais; Francesco Grandesso; Brian Greenwood; Anastasia Grivoyannis; Christoph Hatz; Eva Maria Hodel; Georgina S Humphreys; Jimee Hwang; Deus Ishengoma; Elizabeth Juma; S. Patrick Kachur; Piet A Kager; Erasmus Kamugisha; Moses R Kamya; Corine Karema; Kassoum Kayentao; Adama Kazienga; Jean-Rene Kiechel; Poul-Erik Kofoed; Kwadwo Koram; Peter G Kremsner; David G Lalloo; Moses Laman; Sue J Lee; Bertrand Lell; Amelia W Maiga; Andreas Martensson; Mayfong Mayxay; Wilfred Mbacham; Rose McGready; Herve Menan; Didier Menard; Frank Mockenhaupt; Brioni R Moore; Olaf Muller; Alain Nahum; Jean-Louis Ndiaye; Paul N Newton; Billy E Ngasala; Frederic Nikiema; Akindeh M Nji; Harald Noedl; Francois Nosten; Berhards R Ogutu; Olusola Ojurongbe; Osorio Lyda; Jean-Bosco Ouedraogo; Seth Owusu-Agyei; Anil Pareek; Louis K Penali; Patrice Piola; Mateusz Plucinski; Zul Premji; Michael Ramharter; Caitlin L Richmond; Lars Rombo; Cally Roper; Philip J Rosenthal; Sam Salman; Albert Same-Ekobo; Carol Sibley; Sodiomon B Sirima; Frank M Smithuis; Fabrice A Some; Sarah G Staedke; Peter Starzengruber; Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft; Inge Sutanto; Todd D Swarthout; Din Syafruddin; Ambrose Talisuna; Walter Robert Taylor; Emmanuel A Temu; Julie I Thwing; Halidou Tinto; Emiliana Tjitra; Offianan Andre Toure; T Hien Tran; Johan Ursing; Innocent Valea; Giovanni Valentini; Michele van Vugt; Lorenz von Seidlein; Stephen A Ward; Vincent Were; Nicholas J White; Charles J Woodrow; William Yavo; Adoke Yeka; Issaka Zongo; Julie A Simpson; Philippe J Guerin; Kasia Stepniewska; Ric N Price. Haematological consequences of acute uncomplicated falciparum malaria: a WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network pooled analysis of individual patient data. BMC Medicine 20, 85 (2022)
Dun-Dery F, Knunibe N, Meissner P, Winkler V, Jahn A, Müller O. Determinants of the use of ITNs in pregnant women: a mixed-methods study in Ghana. International Health 0:1-13 (2022)
Anna-Katharina Heuschen, Alhassan Abdul-Mumin, Martin Adokiya, Guangyu Lu, Albrecht Jahn, Oliver Razum, Volker Winkler, Olaf Müller. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria cases in health facilities in northern Ghana: A retrospective analysis of routine surveillance data. Malaria Journal 21: 149 (2022)
Anna-Katharina Heuschen, Alhassan Abdul-Mumin, Abdulai Abubakari, Faith Agbozo, Guangyu Lu, Albrecht Jahn, Olaf Müller. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on general health and malaria control in Ghana: A qualitative study with mothers and health professionals Malaria Journal 22, 78 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-023-04513-6
ORCID Profile: orcid.org/0000-0001-7852-3088