Author Archives: Kim Morris

Dr. Jeffrey Stringer, the Clarke-Pearson Distinguished Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and associate director for research at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, has received the 2025 Oliver Max Gardner Award for his transformative work in maternal healthcare in low-resource settings around the world. Established by the will...

Jonathan Juliano, MD, MSPH, DTM&H, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been honored with the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professorship. Effective July 1, 2025, this prestigious distinction recognizes outstanding contributions and...

For more than two decades, UNC’s infectious disease specialists have provided HIV care to incarcerated individuals across North Carolina’s prison system. Dr. Becky White is the director of UNC Infectious Diseases and HIV Services in the N.C. Department of Adult Corrections. Dr. Lina Rosengren-Hovee is the associate director. In the following,...

The UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases has received a three-year renewal of award funding for the Ryan White Part C Program, from the U.S. Department of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Natalie Hairston, MPH, MSW, UNC’s Ryan White Program Coordinator since 2023, provided critical support to...

Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) is a leading cause of hospital associated infections nationally, and a significant burden at UNC Hospitals. Patients with C. diff infections (CDI) frequently experience recurrent or prolonged diarrhea following antibiotic exposures. They are also at a high risk for adverse outcomes and prolonged hospitalizations, with high...

Lisa Woodley, PhD, MSN, associate professor of nursing and a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, received a faculty award for global excellence from UNC Global. The award recognizes exceptional contributions to the University’s mission of “leading change to improve society and to help solve the world’s greatest problems.” Vice Provost for...

Dr. Mina Hosseinipour’s interest in infectious diseases and medicine began when she was a medical resident in Houston, Texas. Many patients were immigrants, and she was treating several for HIV using a new combination of anti-HIV drugs commonly known as HAART. “It made me want to understand why certain diseases...

The Office of Global Health Education is collecting gently used clothing for migrant/farm workers in Western North Carolina. In early June, a group of UNC Health students, residents, and faculty/staff will travel to Cullowhee, NC, to volunteer with Vecinos, an organization whose mission is to provide equitable culturally centered health care and wellness...

Two UNC neurologists are making significant strides in understanding neurological disorders across diverse global populations, from Latin America to Sub-Saharan Africa.  Monica Diaz, MD, MS, and Deanna Saylor, MD, MHS, are neuro-infectious diseases and neuro-immunology specialists. They are the newest members of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases,...

Fabien Vulu, MD, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) specializing in mosquito vectors of malaria parasites and viruses. He joined the IDEEL Lab at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases to study under the mentorship of Dr. Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, training in malaria parasite sequencing for the PaluSeq...

Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest global health threats. Countries with limited resources, such as Malawi, are particularly vulnerable to its impact, with resistant infections threatening to undo decades of medical progress.  While antibiotics are a cornerstone of modern medicine, less than 2% of the 50,000 medical laboratories...

The ACTG (Advancing Clinical Therapeutics Globally, formerly the AIDS Clinical Trials Group) Network celebrates the A5321 trial, and a successful ten-year milestone this month. Joe Eron, MD, Chief of Infectious Diseases, is the ACTG Chair and leader of the ACTG Executive Committee. “The A5321 has been ongoing for 10 years...

Greetings from the Pre-Award team! If you are planning to submit a grant application, please let us know at least 1 month in advance (preferably 2 months), so that we have time to meet our internal deadlines: Reminders: Most NIH funded research now requires a Data Management Plan.  UNC’s Research...

Registration is now open for this year’s “Run for Malawi” 5k scheduled for Saturday, April 26. This fundraiser saves the lives of children in one of the poorest nations in the world. This year’s goal is to raise $50,000 to support critical work at Kamuzu Central Hospital’s pediatric ward, including...

Chemtai Mungo, MD, MPH, FACOG, a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases has been awarded the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Career Development Award to support her research on the role of the vaginal microbiome in treatment outcomes following self-administered artesunate in the R34 trial she is...

Charles Junior Mwansambo completed six years of training in Malawi, including one year of pre-med, before he began the year-long application process that would bring him to UNC Hospitals for a medical student exchange. Currently, he’s wrapping up a two-month program with the UNC School of Medicine and says he’s...

Senior Alexis Siegler came to Carolina from Decatur, Georgia, choosing Chapel Hill for its breadth of research and interdisciplinary studies. In May, she will graduate with majors in Neuroscience and Political Science, and a minor in Chemistry, along with an understanding that health care is about much more than medical...

Investigators with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) participated in the 2025 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco, California, March 9-12. Following are some highlights.   In a CROI preview, Joe Eron, MD, was interviewed for the “Going Anti-Viral” IAS-USA podcast, discussing the...

Nilu Goonetilleke, PhD, a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and associate professor of medicine, was interviewed by Contagion Infectious Diseases Today during CROI, the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. She discussed two studies that she led with first author Cindy Gay, MD, MPH. The interviews...

In an interview with Dr. Michael Saag for the “Going Anti-Viral Podcast” posted March 7, Dr. Joe Eron described his presentation for the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections CROI (2025). The two discuss the state of HIV cure research, recognizing why it has been difficult to develop a cure...