Dr Meru Sheel is a Westpac Research Fellow and a field epidemiologist at the Australian National University. Born and raised in India, Meru has first-hand seen people live with diseases like polio and tuberculosis and with extensive experience of having worked in resource-limited settings, Meru’s work is passionate about contributing towards global efforts of reducing infectious diseases burden.
Meru holds a PhD in life sciences specialising in new vaccines for bacterial pathogens, and a MPhil in applied epidemiology. Meru leads research on infectious diseases, immunization and public health emergencies, and was awarded the Westpac Research Fellowship to work at the nexus of these three. In addition to a research career, Meru works as a public health practitioner and has worked in many parts of Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean, most recently for COVID19 pandemic in Papua New Guinea. Meru regularly consults with the World Health Organization and other global health agencies. Meru is passionate developing capacity in Lower-Middle Income countries, gender equity and leadership. In 2019, Meru won the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians for Science and Medicine award, and the ANU Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Impact and Engagement in 2020.