Category: Tropical Medicine

A new study co-authored by Sylvia Becker-Dreps, MD, MPH, member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, as well as the Joan C. and Robert Huntley Professor of Family Medicine and Epidemiology, and Filemón Bucardo, PhD, a senior researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill, offers new insight into how a common intestinal...

Malaria remains a threat to young children in refugee settlements, where displacement, temporary housing, and limited access to healthcare reduce the effectiveness of conventional prevention tools. There are an estimated 35 million refugees in Africa alone with women and children comprising more than 80% of those displaced. New arrivals lack...

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s (ASTMH) Annual Meeting, Nov. 9-13 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, drew approximately 4,900 global health professionals from around the world. Investigators from the IDEEL Lab contributed new insights to the global conversation, drawing attention to a defining crossroads in East Africa’s malaria response....

Dr. Scott Commins, a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, commented on the death of a 47-year-old man from Alpha-Gal Syndrome in an NBC News story. Dr. Commins studies the tick-bite induced red meat allergy that affects a growing population and describes the biggest risk factors for severe reactions, such as...

CHAPEL HILL, NC — (November 24, 2025) A multi-disciplinary team of researchers led by Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, at UNC Chapel Hill’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, with partners at North Carolina State University, Emory University, Accelint’s SoarTech, and a network of international collaborators has received  $2.2 million...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Members of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases have an important role to play in sharing evidence-based research that can educate policymakers and support public health initiatives. Advocating for legislation can improve healthcare systems and public health, as well as advance the field of infectious diseases. Dr. Ross...

Zika virus (ZIKV) caused unprecedented outbreaks in South America and the Caribbean in 2015–2016, leading primarily to a series of abnormalities in neonates termed congenital Zika syndrome. The threat of ZIKV reemergence has seen the development of multiple ZIKV vaccines that are at the preclinical stage or in early-stage clinical...

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...