People in the global health news - February 2021

Zimbabwean scientist Dr James Hakim has died

University of Zimbabwe professor and Fogarty grantee Dr. James Hakim has died from COVID-19. Hakim was principal investigator of his country’s Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) award and chaired the MEPI PI Council for several years. He was also a member of the UNAIDS expert committee on HIV/AIDS.

Fogarty grantee Dr David Katzenstein is lost to COVID

Stanford University professor emeritus Dr. David Katzenstein died after contracting COVID-19 while on a visit to Zimbabwe. His long connection with the country began in 1986, when he was a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. He was PI on numerous NIH grants for HIV/AIDS research and training, including several from Fogarty.

Walensky appointed to lead US CDC

President Joe Biden has named Dr. Rochelle Walensky to direct the U.S. CDC. Walensky was previously chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. She received her M.D. from Johns Hopkins University and her MPH from Harvard. The appointment does not require Senate confirmation.

Cameron will direct global health at NSC

Dr. Elizabeth Cameron is returning to the U.S. National Security Council as senior director for global health security and biodefense, the Biden Administration has announced. She held the same position in the Obama Administration and helped launch its Global Health Security Agenda. Cameron holds a Ph.D. in biology from Johns Hopkins University.

Karim, Fauci receive honors for defending science

Drs. Salim S. Abdool Karim and Anthony Fauci have been awarded the 2020 John Maddox Prize for standing up for science during the coronavirus pandemic. Abdool Karim, a longtime Fogarty grantee, is an infectious diseases epidemiologist in South Africa. The prize is presented by the charity Sense about Science and the journal Nature.

Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), serves on the U.S. coronavirus task force and was appointed President Biden’s chief medical adviser on COVID-19. He has also won the $1 million Dan David Prize for defending science, advocating for coronavirus vaccines and for his leadership of HIV/AIDS research.

Farmer awarded Berggruen Prize

Dr. Paul Farmer will receive the Berggruen Prize for his work advancing global public health equity. Chair of global health at Harvard University, he is also founding director of the nonprofit Partners in Health. The $1 million award is given annually to thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement.

Fogarty mHealth collaborator honored by Medscape

Dr. Esther Freeman, director of global health dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, has been named a “rising star” in medicine by Medscape. An assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, Freeman was previously a collaborator on a Fogarty mobile health grant and currently has NIAID funding to study Kaposi’s sarcoma in Africa.