People in the news

Former Fogarty trainee tapped for senior WHO post

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, a former Fogarty trainee, joins the WHO senior leadership team as deputy director-general for programs. A pediatrician recognized globally for tuberculosis and HIV research, Swaminathan was secretary of the Department of Health Research in India and director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Canada names new chief science advisor

Canada's prime minister has appointed Dr. Mona Nemer as the country's chief science advisor. Nemer, who was professor and vice chair of research at the University of Ottawa and director of its molecular genetics and cardiac regeneration lab, has contributed to the development of diagnostic tests for heart failure.

Photo by Ivy Fortin, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Grantees receive lifetime achievement award

For significant contributions to the global HIV/AIDS response, Fogarty grantees Dr. Quarraisha Abdool Karim and Dr. Salim S. Abdool Karim have received the Institute of Human Virology's Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service.

Epidemiologists with the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), their interests include understanding the evolving HIV epidemic, factors influencing acquisition of HIV infection in adolescent girls, and strategies to introduce antiretroviral therapy (ART). Their many achievements include research demonstrating proof-of-concept that ART can prevent transmission of HIV.

They have trained hundreds of African scientists with several decades of Fogarty support and are on faculty at both Columbia University in New York City and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.

Birbeck recognized for neurology contributions

The American Neurological Association has honored Fogarty advisory board member Dr. Gretchen L. Birbeck for outstanding work in academic neurology. Birbeck, of the University of Rochester, received the 2017 Soriano Lectureship award and presented her talk, “Neuroprotective Studies in Cerebral Malaria: Can Africa's Effort Inform U.S. Neurology,” at the ANA annual meeting.

Fogarty's Glass honored as Carter Humanitarian

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases has selected Fogarty Director Dr. Roger I. Glass as recipient of its 2018 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award. The honor recognizes his outstanding leadership in research and vaccine policy, which has helped improve child health globally by preventing rotavirus through vaccines.

NIH foundation head Freire recognized

Dr. Maria Freire, president and executive director of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), has received a Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business Award. The FNIH is a nonprofit that procures funding and manages alliances with public and private institutions in support of the NIH mission.