Dr. Parr is a practicing physician scientist whose research focuses on the infectious diseases of poverty, with translational projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, and other global sites. He received his B.S. in chemistry from Stanford University, followed by his M.D. at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and M.P.H. at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Parr completed residency in internal medicine at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he was selected for the Doris and Howard Hiatt Residency in Internal Medicine and Global Health Equity, and fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Despite more than a decade of improving malaria cases and deaths worldwide, progress has stalled in recent years. Emergence of new Plasmodium falciparum strains resistant to first-line antimalarial drugs and diagnostics in Africa threatens malaria control and elimination efforts. Dr. Parr’s research concentrates on the molecular epidemiology of malaria and “diagnostic-resistant” strains of P. falciparum, in particular. As a founding member of a World Health Organization laboratory network, he collaborates with malaria control programs to support surveillance of these parasites across Africa. By developing and applying cutting-edge molecular and genomic tools, his group seeks to provide actionable information to ministries of health and clinicians while advancing our understanding of malaria epidemiology, transmission, and evolution.

As part of a highly collaborative research program, Dr. Parr has further translated these approaches to other infectious diseases that disproportionately impact marginalized populations, including viral hepatitis and syphilis. Recent applications include investigation of hepatitis B transmission patterns in Africa, design of new diagnostic tests, and the use of genomic epidemiology to inform the design of a globally effective syphilis vaccine.