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Breast Cancer Treatment Patterns and Guidelines, Concordant Treatment Among Malawian Women

April 23, 2025
Dr. Jennifer Morgan, under the mentorship of Dr. Katie Reeder Hayes, Associate Professor of Oncology and Dr. Tamiwe Tomoka, UNC Project-Malawi Cancer Program Co-Director, describes breast cancer treatment patterns by stage and curative-intent guideline-concordant treatment (GCT) receipt among Malawian women in BMC Women’s Health. A prospective cohort of breast cancer patients was enrolled...

New Assay Promises Accurate Diagnosis and Surveillance of Dengue and Zika Viruses

February 27, 2025
Aravinda de Silva, PhD, MPH, a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, has designed a new blood test to accurately diagnose dengue and Zika Viruses, to improve surveillance and advance vaccine development. The dengue virus (DENV), which infects several hundred million people worldwide each year, is responsible...

Malawi Cancer Program Develops Diagnostic Breakthrough

February 21, 2025
In the U.S., cancer diagnosis often involves costly biopsies and tests. In the south African country of Malawi, where the average annual income is around $300, patients can rarely afford such procedures — yet accurate diagnoses remain essential. To help, staff of the long-standing UNC Project Malawi Cancer Program are...

Global Palliative Care: Assessment and Evidence Building

January 11, 2025
Palliative care improves the quality of life for patients (adults and children) with life-threatening illness. It prevents and relieves suffering through the early identification and correct assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual. Early delivery of palliative care can also reduce unnecessary hospital admissions...

Recent Changes to Testing Methods and Case Definitions Impact Our Knowledge of Lyme Disease in NC.

December 12, 2024
Many cases of Lyme disease are under-recognized because early symptoms – typically fever, fatigue and achiness, are common in many other illnesses. At the same time, testing is fraught with pitfalls, including poor sensitivity early in the course of disease and complicated algorithms that often are misinterpreted. While historically considered...

Applying Army Skills to Public Health Challenges

November 6, 2024
In his Carolina office, above a collage of drawings by his three young children, Dr. Ross Boyce displays a 20-year-old photo of himself with 29 other soldiers. The photo captures a proud memory of U.S. Army service for the man who is now a leading epidemiologist and a research expert...

A Quest to Save Sight

November 5, 2024
Globally, the World Health Organization reports at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment. Many of those affected live in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), but they also live in rural areas of the U.S. and North Carolina. Encouragingly, more than 90% of people with vision impairment have a...

Syphilis Researchers Receive $1.6M to Expand LMIC Genomic Data and Advance Vaccine Development

November 4, 2024
Syphilis vaccine development remains a high priority with a rising number of congenital syphilis cases worldwide. Unfortunately, vaccine development is still in a pre-clinical phase, and ongoing translational work is needed to identify vaccine candidates targeting highly conserved surface-exposed antigens expressed by geographically diverse strains of Treponema pallidum (TPA). But...

Pilot Project Aims to Create New Pipeline for Microbial Research

October 23, 2024
There are plenty of benefits that come with major academic health systems like UNC Health. Doctors and nurses get to work alongside researchers studying new advances in medical science, researchers get a first-hand look at the fundamentals of medical practice, and patients get access to a wealth of resources and...

Katrina McGinty Receives Grant to Support Radiology Education in Malawi

October 2, 2024
Katrina McGinty, MD, an Associate Professor of Abdominal Imaging and Director of Global Radiology was awarded a $20,000 Educational Grant from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) for “Virtual MRI Education in Low Resource Setting.” McGinty is a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases. The...

Painschab Receives Five-Year NIH Director’s Pioneer Award

September 30, 2024
In Sub-Saharan Africa, deaths occur in 5-10% of people living with HIV during the first year after initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART), and the causes for these early deaths are not clear. Matthew Painschab, MD, member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, and an assistant professor of hematology,...

Engaging Family Members to Support Breastfeeding and Anti-Retroviral Therapy, to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV

September 29, 2024
Children who are HIV-exposed and uninfected experience poor growth and development compared to children who are HIV-unexposed and uninfected. Exclusive breastfeeding with adherence to anti-retroviral therapy is a recommended practice for preventing mother-to-child transmission, but there are barriers to adherence.   A pilot study led by Stephanie Martin, PhD, an...

AI-Enabled Ultrasound Revolutionizes Gestational Age Estimation in Low-Resource Settings

August 2, 2024
A groundbreaking study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) demonstrates that artificial intelligence (AI) can enable novice users to estimate gestational age as accurately as expert sonographers, potentially transforming pregnancy care in low-resource settings. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute for...

Lyme Disease Continues to Move South into North Carolina: Boyce Encourages Healthcare Providers to Test Patients who Present with Typical Symptoms

June 10, 2024
Ross Boyce, MD, MSc, assistant professor of infectious diseases and epidemiologist with the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, led a study published in Lancet Regional Health that examined the rapid emergence of Lyme Disease in N.C., between 2010 and 2020. Dr. Boyce says the results confirm what he has...

A New Partnership With UNC Project Malawi Will Focus On Cardiovascular Health

May 29, 2024
The Malawi Government has a strong commitment to caring for its citizens, often sending patients abroad, to countries such as India, for cardiac procedures that aren’t available at home. But these opportunities are limited, compared to the needs of the country’s population of 21 million, and follow a process much...

OB-GYN Researchers Introduce Topical Therapy Advancements at American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology

May 27, 2024
Chemtai Mungo, MD, MPH, and Lisa Rahangdale, MD, MPH, presented at the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) meeting on May 4, focusing on the latest advancements in topical therapies for cervical precancer treatment in the U.S. and around the world. Dr. Mungo and Dr. Rahangdale, both obstetricians/gynecologists...

Supporting People Living With HIV In Vietnam

May 26, 2024
Clinical Trials Day honors all that has been accomplished through clinical trials, as well as the people behind them. The UNC Global Clinical Trials Unit at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) facilitates high-quality research, with investigators and research coordinators working to address the challenging questions that need...

Kashuba Receives 2024 Carolina Alumni Faculty Service Award

May 15, 2024
UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Dean Angela Kashuba, Pharm.D., a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Disease, was selected for the 2024 Carolina Alumni Faculty Service Award. Established in 1990, the award “honors faculty members who have performed outstanding service for the University or the alumni association.” ...

Study Shows Drug Use-Associated Endocarditis Increases Hospital Risk For Bacterial Infections

May 10, 2024
David Rosen, PhD, MD, and Asher Schranz, MD, MPH, members of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, found people with drug use-associated infective endocarditis are at high risk of mortality and future hospitalization for bacterial infections, including endocarditis, skin and soft tissue infections and bacteremia. The study, a...

UNC Global Clinical Trials Unit Launches New HIV Drug Combination For Enhancing Immune Response and Suppression

April 30, 2024
The Institute for Global Health and Infectious Disease’s Global Clinical Trials Unit attracts leading trials from national feeder networks to study treatment innovations that can advance health. A new HIV study with the ACTG will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and antiviral effect of a novel combination regimen that includes therapeutic...