Investigators and trainees in the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Ecology Lab (IDEEL) at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases participated in the annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), Nov. 13-17 in New Orleans.
From molecular surveillance of malaria and new genomic sequencing tools, to malaria infection among children with malnutrition and acute respiratory illness, to severe tick-borne disease in North Carolina–studies showcased interdisciplinary research collaborations in the U.S. and around the world. Following are highlights from the IDEEL’s UNC team.
Honors and Awards
Jonathan Juliano, MD, MSPH, DTM&H, professor of medicine in infectious diseases and professor of epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, was honored with the Bailey K. Ashford Medal at the meeting. The prestigious Bailey K. Ashford Medal awarded for distinguished work in tropical medicine is named in honor of Bailey K. Ashford, who recognized the connection between hookworm infection and anemia at the age of 26. This is one of only six honorary medals bestowed by the ASTMH. Read more.
Sahal Thahir, MD, a third-year pediatric infectious diseases fellow, was one of three ID fellows nationwide awarded the competitive Burroughs Wellcome Fund/ASTMH Postdoctoral Fellowship in Tropical Infectious Diseases, designed to stimulate or sustain interest in research in tropical infectious diseases in low and low-middle income countries. In the past, seven former UNC ID fellows received this award, and five of them are currently principal investigators with the IDEEL Lab. They include Emily Ciccone, Peyton Thompson, Jonathan Parr, Natalie Bowman, and Jessica Lin.
Thahir, who previously worked with Peyton Thompson and Jonathan Parr on hepatitis B studies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is working with Jonathan Juliano as part of this fellowship. His awarded project builds upon his work in the DRC with long term IDEEL collaborator Prof. Antoinette Tshefu at the Kinshasa School of Public Health, who was also recognized at the meeting with induction as an International Fellow of ASTMH.
Young Investigator Award Competition
The Young Investigator Award Competition recognizes the work of young investigators, encouraging developing scientists to pursue careers in various aspects of tropical disease research. The following UNC IDEEL trainees competed in the Young Investigator Award Competition. *Sean Connelly, an MD/PhD student, won Honorable Mention for his study of genomic epidemiology of malaria in Zanzibar.
- Elise King (Master’s student, mentored by Emily Ciccone)
“Prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum infection among children hospitalized with acute respiratory illness in Western Uganda” - Annika Gunderson (PhD student, mentored by Ross Boyce)
“Leveraging community health workers to sustain universal bed net coverage in rural Uganda: a pilot feasibility study” - *Sean Connelly (MD/PhD student, mentored by Jonathan Juliano)
“Genomic epidemiology of malaria in Zanzibar: defining the role of importation and local transmission” - Wenqiao He (postdoc, mentored by Jonathan Parr)
“Recurrent Plasmodium malariae infections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo”
IDEEL Trainees Presented Posters
Other IDEEL trainees who presented posters are listed below with their study titles.
- Ashenafi Assefa (postdoc, mentored by Jonathan Parr)
“Successful launch of malaria molecular surveillance and sequencing in Ethiopia confirms drug-resistance mutations including kelch13 C580Y in the Abobo District, Gambella Region” - Caitlin Cassidy (PhD student, mentored by Ross Boyce and Emily Ciccone)
“Associations between C-reactive protein, malaria, and malnutrition among children with febrile acute respiratory illness in Uganda” - Isabela Gerdes Gyuricza (PhD student, mentored by Jonathan Parr)
“Genomic epidemiology of pfhrp2/3 deletions in South America” - Jacob Sadler (Research technician, supervised by Jonathan Juliano)
“Application of a new highly multiplexed amplicon sequencing tool to evaluate Plasmodium falciparum antimalarial resistance and relatedness in indicidual and pooled samples from Dschang, Cameroon” - Ronald Kyong-shin (PhD student, mentored by Jonathan Parr)
“Expanding Plasmodium falciparum whole-genome sequencing in the DRC to characterize demographic history and selection on drug-resistant alleles” - Ruthly François-Zafka (MD/PhD student, mentored by Jonathan Parr)
Tom Holowka explains his research. “Increasing lumefantrine resistance markers in a malaria longitudinal study in Kinshasa Province, Democratic Republic of Congo”
- Siyu Guo (undergrad student, mentored by Ross Boyce)
“Severe tick-borne disease in North Carolina, a ten-year review of hospitalized cases” - Tom Holowka (ID fellow, mentored by Luther Bartelt)
“Pervasive Intestinal Carriage with Multiple Strains of Multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales in Children Admitted for Severe Acute Malnutrition at a Tertiary Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi” - Zach Popkin-Hall (postdoc, mentored by Jonathan Juliano)
“Population Genomics of Plasmodium malariae from Four African Countries” - Luis E. Zambrana (mentored by Sylvia Becker-Dreps)
“Investigating the Influence of Human Milk Oligosaccharides on Child Growth Development”
Kristin Banek, a former UNC postdoc in the IDEEL Lab mentored by Drs. Juliano and Parr who is now an assistant professor at Tulane, provided the oral presentation “Treatment-seeking behavior for fever in Kinshasa, DRC: a longitudinal study.”
Researchers in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab (IDEEL) at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases are process driven investigators with a unique comradery, working in 20+ countries to improve basic understandings of pathogens. The applied nature of their work has a direct impact on the health and well-being of millions of individuals around the globe, while also having an immediate effect on health policies at all levels. IDEEL investigators at UNC include: Jonathan Juliano, MD, MSPH; Jessica Lin, MD; Natalie Bowman, MD, MPH; Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH; Ross Boyce, MD, MSc; Peyton Thompson, MD, MSCR; Michael Emch, PhD; Sylvia Becker-Dreps, MD, MPH; and Emily Ciccone, MD, MHS.