Child Survival, Ocular Health, and Implementation Science
About
Dr. O'Brien is an epidemiologist working on community-randomized trials in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Her work on mass azithromycin distribution examines both what these programs achieve for child survival and what they cost in antimicrobial resistance — questions that have to be answered together if the strategy is to be used responsibly at scale.
She has also studied azithromycin for uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition in Burkina Faso, and works on the Village Integrated Eye Worker Trials, which test whether training community health workers to treat corneal abrasions can prevent corneal ulcers at population scale.
Alongside the trials themselves, her interests run to implementation science: what it takes for an intervention that works in a trial to work in a health system.
Education & Training
BA, International Development, 2008 — University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
MPH, Global Health Epidemiology, 2012 — University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
PhD, Epidemiology, 2020 — University of California, Berkeley
Key Collaborators
Learn More
UCSF Profile & Full Publication List
Research Areas: Child & Adolescent Health, Epidemiology & Surveillance, Ocular Health, Implementation Science
Field Sites: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia
Clinical Trials
Recruiting
Village-Integrated Eye Worker Trial II (VIEW II)
Conditions: Macular degeneration; Diabetes; Glaucoma
Period: Apr 2019 – Aug 2029 (est.)
Active, not recruiting
Village Integrated Eye Workers Trial (VIEW)
Conditions: Corneal ulcer
Period: Feb 2014 – Jan 2026
Registry: NCT01969786
Completed
Azithromycin for Child Survival in Niger: Mortality and Resistance Trial (AVENIR)
Conditions: Child mortality; Bacterial resistance
Period: Nov 2020 – Jul 2024
Registry: NCT04224987
Azithromycin for Uncomplicated Severe Acute Malnutrition in Burkina Faso (Pilot)
Conditions: Uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition
Period: Jun 2020 – Dec 2020
Trial details from UCSF Profiles. Last reviewed August 2026.