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Institute, Gillings School Host 3rd Annual Global Health Scholars Symposium

February 17, 2025
(Following is a look back at the 3rd Annual Global Health Scholars Symposium. Links to recordings are provided throughout.)   Myron Cohen, MD, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases welcomed faculty, students and fellows to the 3rd Annual Global Health Scholars Symposium Friday, Feb. 14, recognizing...

2024 Review: Office of Fellowships & Training

December 3, 2024
The Office of Fellowships and Training at the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases ensures educational and mentored research training and field experience for eligible masters, doctoral or post-doctoral candidates. Managed by Kristin Reed, MPH; Marla Allen, MPH; Dzidzai Muyengwa, MPH; and Benjamin Chi, MD, MSc, following is...

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...

Searching for a Vaccine Against an Ancient Scourge

September 19, 2024
With data from one of the most extensive genomic surveys of the syphilis bacterium – correlated with clinical information from patients – an international team of researchers and doctors are on the hunt for proteins on the surface of the microbe that don’t vary and could be good targets for...

The Continued Rise in Syphilis Cases: An Increasing Priority For Global Public Health

April 25, 2024
April is sexually transmitted infections (STI) awareness month, and Arlene Seña, MD, MPH, a researcher with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, is sounding the alarm about the importance of syphilis prevention, testing, and treatment. U.S. syphilis cases have increased nearly 80% since 2018,  a level not seen...

Hepatitis B Elimination in sub-Saharan Africa: Peyton Thompson Leads Kinshasa-based Research Team Paving the Way For Virus-Free Generations

March 25, 2024
As the World Health Organization pushes to eradicate the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) by 2030, preventing vertical transmission is key, says Peyton Thompson, MD, MSCR, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. But despite widespread availability of effective childhood vaccines, HBV remains endemic throughout sub-Saharan Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the...

Parr Elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation

December 21, 2023
Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, assistant professor medicine and researcher with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), a nonprofit medical honor society that seeks to seeks to support the scientific efforts, educational needs, and clinical aspirations of physician-scientists...

2023 Year in Review: The Office of Fellowships and Training Programs

November 29, 2023
Nurturing future global health leaders is crucial to building resilient and sustainable health systems. The Office of Fellowship and Training Programs provides robust clinical and non-clinical experiences for professional and personal growth, led by Benjamin Chi, MD, MSc, the Institute’s Associate Director of Fellowship Programs. “Mentorship and training are pivotal parts...

Assefa, Parr Review a Novel Strategy for Eliminating Malaria, Published in The Lancet

November 15, 2023
Post-doctoral fellow Ashenafi Assefa, PhD, and Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases, researchers with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) working in the IDEEL (the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology) Lab assess the pros and cons of a new strategy to simplify malaria...

IAMIGHID: The Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab (IDEEL)

October 29, 2023
Researchers in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab (IDEEL) at UNC are process driven investigators with a unique comradery, working in 20+ countries to improve basic understandings of pathogens. The applied nature of their work has a direct impact on the health and well-being of millions of individuals around...

Malaria-Causing Parasites Resistant to Both Treatment and Detection Emerge in Ethiopia

October 17, 2023
Researchers with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) through IDEEL (the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab), have detected new strains of malaria-causing parasites in Ethiopia that are both resistant to current treatments and escape detection by common diagnostic tests. Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, IGHID member and...

Why Specialize in Infectious Diseases? The Desire to Practice Has Always Been Infectious, But Perhaps More So Now

June 23, 2023
It’s a rare day when an infectious disease story is not in the news–particularly since COVID-19 turned the world upside down and showed the vulnerability of the human condition to emerging pathogens. The field of infectious diseases is dynamic, often characterized by innovation and heroism.   Christopher Sellers, MD, MPH...

UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases Receives NIH R01 Grant to Study the Rise of Drug-Resistant Malaria in Ethiopia

June 9, 2023
Led by Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, with Jon Juliano, MD, MSPH, and researchers in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab (IDEEL), the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases has been awarded a $3.6 million NIH R01 grant to study the rise of drug-resistant malaria in Ethiopia, with partners...

UNC School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases Receives $2.9 Million Capacity Building Grant for Malaria Surveillance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

April 25, 2023
UNC School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases has been awarded a $2.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish malaria genomic surveillance capacity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  Dr. Jonathan Parr is the lead PI, with Dr. Jon Juliano and...

Ruthly François, Mentored by Jonathan Parr, Studies Drug Resistance to Malaria in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

February 21, 2023
Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, a founding member of the UNC Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Ecology Lab (IDEEL) with the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases is conducting studies in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to understand the changing prevalence of drug resistance to malaria. Malaria...

Juliano Receives $3.4 million to Study the Increase of Relapsing Malaria Species in Africa

August 23, 2022
Jonathan Juliano, MD, MPSH, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Associate Director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, with fellow IDEEL investigators Jessica Lin, MD, MSCR, and Jonathan Parr, MD, MPH, and co-PIs from the University of Florida (UF) and Centre Pasteur Cameroon, has received a $3.4 million...

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...

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....

Study from DRC shows mother-infant HBV treatment, prevention feasible

August 23, 2021
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains endemic throughout sub-Saharan Africa despite the widespread availability of effective childhood vaccines. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, HBV treatment and birth-dose vaccination programs are not established. UNC School of Medicine researchers led a study to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of HBV testing...

Congolese physician wins Rotary fellowship to study public health

November 19, 2020
The year was 1993. Alexis Mwanza, then 17, found himself huddled on top of a train, fleeing violence in his home town in the Democratic Republic of Congo by leading nine of his family members 500 miles away to Mbuji Mayi. As a displaced refugee in that city, Mwanza watched...