Olamide Jarrett
Assistant professor of medicine
Biography
Dr. Olamide Jarrett, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease. Photo: Joshua Clark/UIC Photo Services (click image to download)
Dr. Olamide Jarrett is an assistant professor of medicine in the department of infectious disease in the UIC College of Medicine. Her research interests are in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in women in sub-Saharan Africa. She received her medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and earned a master’s of public health from Tufts University School of Medicine.
In November 2014, Jarrett traveled to Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, to work in the Ebola Isolation Unit in Connaught Hospital.
Jarrett, who has family members in Sierra Leone, hopes new treatment and isolation facilities being constructed will help control the Ebola outbreak. The stigma faced by health care workers who treat patients with Ebola in Sierra Leone is real, she says.
“Sometimes it’s not enough to talk about how you want to see your country improve or talk about all the ways it can be a stronger nation. Eventually, you have to be willing to be on the ground and help out in a time of crisis.”
Subject areas:
- Ebola
- Health systems in Sierra Leone
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- HIV in sub-Saharan Africa
- Women’s health
