Four appointments in 2020 have expanded the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases’ Leadership Team. The team’s members bring unique expertise, experience, and perspectives from across the University of North Carolina’s health science schools to set strategy and lead the growth of one of UNC’s preeminent research centers. “Since our founding in 2007, the … Read more

By the spring of 2020, the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic caused many researchers affiliated with UNC’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases to pivot their studies to focus on testing, treatment and prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Here, a look at some of the projects underway in the last two years.   Development … Read more

  Three Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases representatives joined the May 21 UNC Board of Trustees meeting to talk about COVID-19 and the university’s response to the pandemic. Institute Director Myron Cohen, MD, talked about how so many of our researchers have pivoted their work to COVID, working on the development of vaccine … Read more

  In the first COVID-19 case series of tocilizumab in the United States, UNC-Chapel Hill researchers report sobering results. They say the drug should be used judiciously until randomized clinical trials determine tocilizumab’s true efficacy. Meanwhile, medical students sidelined from clinical rotations by the virus conducted the research with lightning speed, all virtually. In the … Read more

    A new study by the Multi-Drug-Resistant Organism Network of the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) has found that strains of carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales (CRE), a major threat to vulnerable patient populations, are more diverse than previously thought. The MDRO Network is led by UNC Infectious Diseases investigator David van Duin, MD, PhD. Analyzing patient … Read more

A novel collaboration between UNC’s Department of Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases includes creating a multidisciplinary primary care clinic to serve people living with HIV. The new model lays the groundwork for multidisciplinary care in advance of the move to Eastowne. Led by Claire Farel MD, MPH, medical director of the UNC Infectious Diseases Clinic, Amy Durr, … Read more

Ross Boyce, MD, MSc, assistant professor of medicine in the infectious diseases division, and, Allison Aiello, PhD, MS, professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, are leading a study along with Aaron Fleischauer, PhD, MSPH, at NC Department of Health and Human Services and other agency partners to understand how widespread … Read more

Myron Cohen, MD, Yeargan-Bate Distinguished Professor of medicine, microbiology, and immunology and epidemiology and director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, and Wesley Fowler, MD, associate dean for medical alumni affairs and professor of obstetrics and gynecology,and have been inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece, UNC’s oldest and most prestigious … Read more

Watch animation video explaining UNC Project-China’s STI pay-it-forward study. Gonorrhea and chlamydia are two common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that increase HIV risk among many key populations, including gay and bisexual men. But most men are not tested for STIs, in part because of the cost and low community engagement. A new study from researchers … Read more

By Alyssa LaFaro As seven states now require masks and face coverings for visiting essential businesses or using public transportation, it seems like those spaces are where we are most at risk for COVID-19 infection. But, in truth, the riskiest place could be our homes — at least, if you live with someone who tests positive for the … Read more

Kathy James was watching the evening news a week or so ago when she saw a story about people in Winston-Salem who were organizing to bring food to local hospital staff fighting Covid-19. We need to do something like that for our people, she thought. James is an administrative coordinator at UNC’s Institute for Global … Read more

  By Myron Cohen, MD Our UNC infectious diseases community, encompassing many disciplines, has responded remarkably to COVID-19. Our physicians have been deployed to patient care and to advise the University and health system’s leadership. Researchers are quickly pivoting their work to focus on COVID. Among the many who have responded quickly: David Wohl and … Read more

Irving Hoffman, international director of the Institute’s UNC Project-Malawi, offers this report as the country recorded its first death from COVID-19. As of April 8, 2020, despite limited testing, Malawi has recorded 10 COVID-19 cases with one death and some evidence of community spread. UNC Project-Malawi is taking a leading role in support of the … Read more

  Researchers within UNC’s School of Medicine are working tirelessly to provide knowledge to impact the current COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics. “UNC SOM is home to many world-renowned experts on infectious disease and virology,” says Blossom Damania, Boshamer Distinguished Professor and Vice Dean for Research at the UNC School of Medicine. “We are very … Read more

The Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and UNC Project-Malawi were awarded a $4.5 million grant by the UK’s Fleming Fund to strengthen Malawi’s One Health Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) program.  The grant will support the national AMR coordination committee and technical working groups, supporting ownership and alignment and scaling up a One Health AMR mentoring scheme. In the human … Read more

UNC has expanded its partnership with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua-León, or UNAN, which since 2003 has encompassed the exchange of research, faculty, and clinical learners, to now include the development of a PhD program housed at UNAN. The program, which offers a PhD in biomedical sciences with mention in infectious diseases, aims to … Read more

Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi, celebrated the opening of its pediatric laboratory with a November 14, 2019 ceremony. The collaborative project was led by Elizabeth Fitzgerald, MD, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist, with support from UNC Project-Malawi and funding from the Malawi Children’s Initiative. Rob Krysiak, MS, co-director of the UNC Project Malawi laboratory, … Read more

  Chlamydia is the most prevalent bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the world. There is no vaccine to prevent infection. However, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in partnership with colleagues at other sites in the U.S., Europe and Australia, will receive up to $10.7 million over five years from … Read more

Robert Flick is a student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He has completed both the Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship and the UJMT Fogarty Global Health Fellowship. In this blog post, he shares how these fellowships allowed him to conduct operational research in Malawi and pay tribute to a friend and former colleague. I … Read more