People in the news - February 2014

January / February 2014 | Volume 13, Issue 1

Four HIV/AIDS experts win Prince Mahidol Awards

Four renowned experts in HIV/AIDS have been honored with Thailand's 2013 Prince Mahidol Awards: Drs. Anthony S. Fauci and David D. Ho for medicine, and Drs. Jim Yong Kim and Peter Piot for public health. The award is named after Prince Mahidol of Songkla, who trained in medicine and public health at Harvard in the 1920s.

Fauci and Ho were hailed for research that helped produce HIV/AIDS treatment. Fauci, who directs NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, increased understanding of how HIV destroys the body's defenses and eventually brings about AIDS.

Ho, who heads the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, pioneered highly active antiretroviral therapy treatment for HIV-infected patients (HAART) that controls viral replication. He has studied HIV/AIDS for 31 years.

Currently president of the World Bank Group, Kim was recognized for his achievements as director of the WHO's HIV/AIDS Department, which included helping 3 million patients receive antiretroviral therapy and enhancing treatment, prevention and care for HIV/AIDS patients overall.

Piot, who directs the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was honored for his success as UNAIDS executive director in raising global HIV/AIDS awareness and championing HIV prevention and low-cost antiretroviral drugs.

Prince Mahidol Award winners Drs. Anthony S. Fauci, David D. Ho, Jim Yong Kim and Peter Piot

Fogarty grantee Pape's group wins TB award The organization GHESKIO, founded in 1982 by Dr. J. William Pape and long supported by Fogarty, has been honored with the 2013 Stop TB Partnership Kochon Prize. Haiti's Group for the Study of Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections focuses on HIV/AIDS, TB and sexually transmitted infections. More about Dr. Pape's Fogarty grant: Haiti AIDS Research Training: Models to Implementation, GHESKIO Center, Haiti	Dr. J. William Pape
Fogarty grantee wins child health prize Dr. Anita Zaidi, a Fogarty principal investigator and head of pediatrics at Aga Khan University in Pakistan, has won a $1 million grant to reduce deaths of children in their first months of life. The Caplow Children's Prize, named for U.S. philanthropist Ted Caplow, aims to improve child health. More about Dr. Zaidi's Fogarty grant: Infectious Diseases and Child Health in Pakistan Research Training Program, Aga Khan University, Pakistan	Dr. Anita Zaidi
Fogarty's Breman participates in guinea worm effort An international panel has confirmed that the parasite known as guinea worm has been eradicated in Cote d'Ivoire, Niger and Nigeria. The International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis has approved the results. Fogarty scientist emeritus and world expert in infectious diseases, Dr. Joel Breman, led the teams visiting Cote d'Ivoire and Niger. There are now 185 countries declared free of this debilitating parasite, with Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan still reporting cases. Read the December 6, 2013 news release WHO certifies five more countries as free from dracunculiasis from the World Health Organization.	Dr. Joel Breman

To view Adobe PDF files, download current, free accessible plug-ins from Adobe's website.