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I AM IGHID: Joelle Howard

August 12, 2022

Regulatory Affairs (RA) plays a critical role throughout the grant lifecycle, ensuring protocol integrity in the development of drugs and vaccines on the path to human use. Joelle Howard, who goes by Jo, joined IGHID last June. She is one of three regulatory document specialists who work across departments, schools, and countries to maintain accurate … Read more

Addressing Racism’s Role in the US HIV Epidemic: Qualitative Findings from Three “Ending the HIV Epidemic” Prevention Projects

August 8, 2022

Researchers from the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Center for Health Equity Research reviewed qualitative data from three “Ending the HIV Epidemic” (EHE) projects, published in the July issue of Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (JAIDS). In the article, Kate Muessig, PhD, associate professor … Read more

Scientists Create Long-acting Injectable Drug Delivery System for Tuberculosis

August 8, 2022

Led by Martina Kovarova, PhD, Miriam Braunstein, PhD, and J. Victor Garcia, PhD, UNC School of Medicine researchers showed in vivo efficacy of a long-acting injectable formulation of the anti-TB drug rifabutin. In 2020, more than 1.5 million people around the world died of tuberculosis, marking the first time in more than a decade that … Read more

Sustained Efficacy of Long-Acting Cabotegravir for PrEP Among Cisgender Women – Findings from HPTN 084 Study

August 1, 2022

Researchers from the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) presented updated results from the HPTN 084 long-acting cabotegravir (CAB) for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) study at the AIDS 2022 conference in Montreal. New findings show reductions in HIV incidence were sustained in the 12 months following trial unblinding (November 5, 2020, through November 5, 2021). “HIV infection … Read more

CDC renews five-year funding for vector-borne disease threats

July 25, 2022

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced the five-year funding renewal of the Southeastern Center for Vector-Borne Diseases (SECVBD), an interdisciplinary team of researchers that includes UNC’s Ross Boyce, MD, MSc, a member of the UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases and assistant professor in infectious diseases and epidemiology, and … Read more

Study shows the positive effect of preventative therapy for malaria is mediated by gestational weight gain, influenced by intestinal pathogens

June 24, 2022

Recently published in eBioMedicine, this study represents the work of the late Professor Steve Meshnick who served as mentor to Andreea Waltmann, a postdoctoral scholar with the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases. Dr. Meshnick died August 5, 2020.  Malaria in pregnancy (MiP) is a major public health problem with substantial risks for mothers and their babies. The combination … Read more

NIAID recognizes HPTN’s groundbreaking work in covid prevention tools

June 9, 2022

The 2022 HPTN Annual Meeting took place June 5-8 in Washington, D.C., bringing hundreds of worldwide researchers, collaborators, community representatives, and government health officials together to share updates and accomplishments and re-engage with each other as a community. HPTN Principal Investigators Myron Cohen, MD, director of the UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases … Read more

Baric led center receives $65 million grant

June 8, 2022

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health a $65 million grant establishing an Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center to develop oral antivirals that can combat pandemic-level viruses like COVID-19. The center builds upon and is … Read more

Effect of intimate partner violence on oral PrEP adherence among adolescent girls and young women

June 7, 2022

Intimate partner violence events may either impede or motivate PrEP adherence among African adolescent girls and young women, with age appearing to be an important consideration for IPV-related adherence interventions, according to IGHID researchers Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, MPH, professor of infectious diseases and principal investigator for the UNC Behavioral and Technology Lab, and Audrey Pettifor, … Read more

Researchers evaluate diagnostic testing landscape for tick-borne disease in the Southeast

May 17, 2022

Tick-borne diseases (TBD) including Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis (SFGR), ehrlichiosis, and increasingly Lyme disease, represent a substantial public health concern throughout much of the Southeastern United States. North Carolina experiences some of the highest rates of SFGR and ehrlichiosis in the United States, often accounting for more than of 10% and 5% of cases reported to the … Read more

NIH Renews the UJMT Fogarty Global Health Training Partnership

May 6, 2022

The UJMT Fogarty Global Health Fellows Consortium (UJMT)–a partnership between UNC-Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins University, Morehouse School of Medicine and Tulane University–has been renewed for the coming five years. It is one of seven groups to be funded under the new Launching Future Leaders in Global Health (LAUNCH) training initiative, supported by the Fogarty International … Read more

Youth-Focused Intervention Activity Focuses On Solutions For Promoting PrEP Awareness

April 28, 2022

Joseph Tucker, MD, PhD, MA, a member of the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and associate professor in the division of infectious diseases, encourages HIV testing through his work in the US, China and South Africa. He also promotes youth-friendly HIV prevention and self-testing services. In early April, Dr. Tucker participated in … Read more

STD Awareness in April: Infectious Disease Experts Are Working to Advance the Development of Vaccines for Sexually Transmitted Infections

April 20, 2022

During April, STD Awareness provides an opportunity to talk about STIs and encourage individuals to be proactive about their sexual health and promotes regular STI/HIV screening and testing. Although research in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) has evolved rapidly on multiple fronts, a critical remaining challenge is the development of safe and effective vaccines for diseases that pose … Read more

UNC Landmark Study Paves the Way for Universal Obstetric Ultrasound

April 7, 2022

Establishing accurate gestational age with ultrasound early in pregnancy is essential to delivering high-quality care.Yet, the high cost for equipment and the need for trained sonographers limits its use in low-resource settings. A new study published in NEJM Evidence introduces a novel opportunity to democratize obstetric ultrasound. UNC investigators from the Institute for Global Health … Read more

Sciaudone awarded BWF-ASTMH postdoctoral fellowship to continue diagnostics research in Peru

October 22, 2021

Michael Sciaudone, MD, an infectious diseases specialist at UNC, has won a 2021 postdoctoral fellowship in tropical infectious diseases from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund-American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH). Three of the coveted fellowships are awarded nationally each year, funding research focused on low and low-middle income countries. Sciaudone will use the two-year … Read more

NIH grant expands capacity to train emerging cancer researchers in Malawi

September 28, 2021

  A five-year training grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute expands the capacity of UNC’s Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to train the next generation of cancer researchers in Malawi, Africa. The Malawi Cancer Outcomes Research Program, or M-CORP, includes funding for advanced degree … Read more

Hobbs and Duncan win $3.9M NIAID grant to study a meningitis vaccine’s effect on gonorrhea

August 26, 2021

The NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has awarded UNC’s Marcia Hobbs and Alex Duncan a five-year, $3.9 million grant to study how a vaccine recently developed to prevent life-threatening infections caused by group B Neisseria meningitidis, the MenB vaccine, may also protect people from infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a sexually transmitted bacterial … Read more