People in the news - February 2019

Nobel for Former Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence

Dr. Tasuku Honjo, who was a Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence in the 1990s, has won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Honjo and NIH grantee Dr. James Allison were recognized “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.”

Photo courtesy of the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study

Bekker lauded for HIV research and human rights

Fogarty collaborator and former trainee Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker has received the 2018 Desmond Tutu Award for HIV Prevention Research and Human Rights. Bekker, a University of Cape Town professor, was lauded for her research and her advocacy of personalized models of care that have “saved lives and helped to break down barriers of stigma and discrimination in HIV prevention.”

Photo courtesy of the International AIDS Society

De Luca recognized for scientific innovation

Former Fogarty fellow Dr. Michele De Luca was recognized for his research on stem cells and their therapeutic potential. A professor at Italy’s University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, De Luca received a 2019 “Innovators in Science Award” from the New York Academy of Sciences and the pharmaceutical company Takeda.

NIH Institute Director Katz mourned

The director of NIH’s National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), Dr. Stephen I. Katz, died suddenly in December 2018. Katz led NIAMS since 1995 and was an adjunct investigator in the dermatology branch of the National Cancer Institute, where he began his NIH career in 1974.

Former Fogarty advisor, NIH leader Li dies

Dr. Ting-Kai Li, a former director of NIH’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and past Fogarty board member, has died. Known for his research on the metabolism, pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics of alcohol, and the neurobiology and genetics of alcohol-related behavior, Li spent most of his career at Indiana University before joining NIH.

Gramzinski leading US military HIV research effort

Dr. Robert Gramzinski is the new director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), which serves to protect troops from infection and improve global health. His prior MHRP roles included operational oversight of activities in several African countries and Thailand. Previously, he was with NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Photo courtesy of MHRP

New role for O’Brien with WHO

The WHO has appointed Dr. Kate O’Brien as its Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals. O’Brien, whose research includes vaccine clinical trials and disease epidemiology, has been executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She’s also been an advisor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

International honor for NIH’s Stratakis

Dr. Constantine Stratakis, scientific director for NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, received the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology’s International Award, which recognizes outstanding scientific contributions outside Europe. His lab has identified a number of genetic defects and described new diseases including, Carney-Stratakis syndrome that bears his name.