Dr Thomas J Peto
Podcast interview
Malaria elimination and mass drug administration

Although malaria has greatly declined in Southeast Asia this century, treating clinical cases won’t be sufficient to eliminate it from the region. Mass drug administration allows to eliminate parasites from asymptomatic carriers, and careful engagement with whole communities is key.
Research groups
Thomas Peto
MPH, PhD
Research Epidemiologist
Malaria
I am an epidemiologist working at the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, in the Malaria Group led by Professor Arjen Dondorp. I work in rural areas to study malaria epidemiology and conduct clinical trials to evaluate malaria treatment and elimination strategies in Southeast Asia. The studies I work on cover mass drug administration, new artemisinin combination therapies, screening and treatment approaches, and novel diagnostics to address the hidden reservoir of asymptomatic malaria infections. I am also interested in the prevention and control of chronic viral hepatitis. I am the study coordinator for the Triple Artemisinin Combination Therapy Cambodia-Vietnam (TACT-CV) clinical trial.
Recent publications
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Characterisation of between-cluster heterogeneity in malaria cluster randomised trials to inform future sample size calculations
Journal article
Biggs J. et al, (2025), Nature Communications, 16
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Operational evaluation of the deployment of Malaria/CRP Duo and Dengue Duo rapid diagnostic tests for the management of febrile illness by village malaria workers in rural Cambodia
Journal article
Visser MT. et al, (2025), BMC Infectious Diseases, 25
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Understanding the primary healthcare context in rural South and Southeast Asia: a village profiling study
Journal article
Chew R. et al, (2025), International Health
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Population genomics and transcriptomics of Plasmodium falciparum in Cambodia and Vietnam uncover key components of the artemisinin resistance genetic background
Journal article
Nayak S. et al, (2024), Nature Communications, 15
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Insecticide-treated bednets and chemoprophylaxis reduce malaria mortality and parasite prevalence
Journal article
Peto TJ., (2024), Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene