Mercedes Becerra

Mercedes Becerra is the Jeffrey Cheah Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Faculty Dean of Adams House at Harvard College. Her work focuses on improving treatment strategies for drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), with a particular emphasis on pediatric cases and household transmission dynamics. She holds a Sc.D. in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health and has conducted research globally through collaborations with organizations like Partners In Health and IRD Global.

• Education:
  • AB in History, Harvard College (1991)
  • MSc in Population and International Health, Harvard School of Public Health (1993)
  • Sc.D. in Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health (1999)

Her research explores TB transmission patterns, treatment efficacy for multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR-TB) cases, and interventions to reduce TB rates in high-risk communities. Co-founder of the Sentinel Project on Pediatric Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis and the Zero TB Initiative, she advocates for global health equity and access to effective treatments.

Key contributions include studies on household TB transmission, pediatric MDR-TB outcomes, and the impact of aggressive treatment regimens on recurrence rates. Her work emphasizes programmatic approaches in resource-limited settings and addresses systemic barriers to care.