Category: News

Investigators with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases participated in the Shanghai International Syphilis Symposium (SISS 2025), October 20-22, an invitation-only forum convening global leaders in syphilis research, clinical practice, and public health policy. Approximately 80 preeminent experts from academia, healthcare institutions, and global health organizations came together...

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) for viral suppression in people living with HIV (PWH) improves life expectancy and interrupts transmission. And new long-acting ART injectables have become a convenient treatment, helping overcome the burden of pills and the stigma associated with taking daily medication. But while there has been a 68% reduction...

Artemisinin partial resistance, driven by Plasmodium falciparum K13 mutations, threatens malaria control. Zanzibar is vulnerable to the spread of artemisinin partial resistance but lacks molecular surveillance. Sean Connelly, an MD-PhD candidate, led a study with the IDEEL Lab team that sequenced samples in Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania, collected from 2022 to...

“We at the Institute for Global Health and infectious diseases are a large community of multi-disciplinary investigators,” said Sonia Napravnik, PhD, in her webinar welcome message during University Research Week. “And essentially, we all focus on improving health globally and locally, here in North Carolina and across the US.” “Our...

Gina Chowa, PhD, MSW, conducted a study examines the association between program design and youth employability outcomes. Using longitudinal survey data from the Siyakha Youth Assets project in South Africa, she analyzed responses from a sample of 1809 youth enrolled in eight different employment programs across the country. These findings...

Esther Kip, PhD, is a WARMHEART Fellow in Malawi, a postdoc training program named for the “warm heart of Malawi.” In the following interview, she explains her interest in adolescent mental health, how her research is building momentum, and a personal encounter that remains a driving force behind her work. ...

This year’s ID Week will take place October 19-22, 2025, in Atlanta, GA. ID Week is the joint annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the HIV Medicine Association, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists....

Briefly summarize your background and interests, and how you came to the Institute. I originally trained as a biomedical engineer and gained experience with in-host modeling of influenza during my Master’s degree at the University of Virginia. I was interested in continuing to work on infectious disease modeling, but wanted...

Dr. Luther Bartelt and Dr. Heather Henderson, members of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases were interviewed as recipients of a new Seed Funding Program in the College of Arts and Science’s Office of Research and Innovation.  They are working on the project “Fishy Remedies: A Mixed-Methods Study...

In a recent podcast, The Lone Star Tick & One Patient’s Experience With Ehrlichiosis, Dr. Ron Falk speaks with Dr. Ross Boyce, an expert in tick-borne illnesses, and Dr. Katherine Huffman-Falk, a retired nephrologist who was recently bitten by a tick. This podcast talks about what a tick-borne disease is...

UNC at the STI & HIV 2025 World Congress in Montreal UNC Chapel Hill was well represented at the STI & HIV 2025 World Congress. Centered on the theme “Sexual Health for All,” the congress took place in Montreal, Canada, from July 27 to 30, 2025. This biannual congress, organized by...

The UNC IGHID Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) participated in the “Vision for Change: Empowering Communities in NC through Community Engagement” event on Saturday, August 30 at the Community Family Life & Recreation Center at Lyon Park in Durham. Our team (Miriam, Ann, and Tia) joined Alicia Diggs with UNC CFAR,...

Jonathan Juliano, MD, MSPH, has been awarded a $3.2 million R01 grant to use deep learning surrogates to predict the spread of antimalarial drug resistance. With co-PI Robert Verity, PhD, MSc at Imperial College London, the research team includes Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, and partner Varun Goel, PhD, at the...

The competitive five-year renewal of Fogarty’s Malawian Program for Mental Health Research Training (WARMHEART), submitted by the Institute’s training partners at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), signals a bright outlook for mental health. Building on the strong track record of its first funding cycle, WARMHEART will continue to strengthen...

Talent and ambition are universal, but opportunity, not always. When eight youth from Ascent Soccer visited UNC Project Malawi’s Lab for a day of science, it wasn’t just about microscopes and lab coats—it was a reminder that sport can be a gateway to new opportunities. The event was also a...

Dr. Ross Boyce challenges learners to see beyond the data, to understand the patient, the family, and the community at the heart of every research question. His latest study in the New England Journal of Medicine has captured the attention of students and colleagues alike, validating a simple intervention for...

As a child, Jesus Viña Moreno spent countless hours at Hospital General Regional Dr. Marcelino Velez Santana in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. His mother completed her residency there, often bringing him along.  This past summer, Viña Moreno returned to those same halls, not as a visitor, but as a medical...

At UNC Project-Vietnam, Kim Ngan Nguyen, MSc, says her days are genuinely rewarding as she manages implementation studies for IGHID investigators. She describes this as taking proven concepts off the page and turning them into well-run interventions that lead to better health outcomes.  What is your role with UNC Project-Vietnam?...

Published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, this trial led by Ross Boyce, MD, MSc and colleagues highlights the potential impact of permethrin-treated textiles as a novel tool in the fight against malaria. Malaria remains a major cause of childhood mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, responsible for nearly 600,000...

Without access to subspecialty training, physicians in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are unequipped to treat the high volume of patients presenting with cancer, who need subspecialized care for the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer and other gynecologic malignancies. With rising rates of cancer in LMICs, there is a...