Dr. Lara Van Der Merwe

Lara Van Der Merwe is a South African infectious diseases researcher whose work centers on pneumococcal epidemiology, vaccine impact, and molecular diagnostics. Her studies explore nasopharyngeal colonization dynamics in children and neonates, with a strong focus on the public health implications of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine schedule optimization in high-burden settings.

Her publications demonstrate expertise in high-throughput nanofluidic qPCR assay development and serotyping, advancing tools to detect multiple Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes and other respiratory pathogens. She has contributed to evaluations of reduced-dose vaccine strategies, long-term vaccine impact, and shifts in bacterial ecology during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Van Der Merwe’s research also addresses antimicrobial resistance and genomic characterization of pathogens such as Klebsiella pneumoniae and ESKAPE organisms in vulnerable neonatal populations. Through clinical trials, genomic analyses, and surveillance studies, her work informs vaccine policy, infection prevention strategies, and risk assessment in South Africa and similar settings.