Dr. Jennifer Downs was one of the "first" of four to graduate from a novel Global Health Track of the Master's of Science Degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research. This program is a proactive collaboration between the Department of Medicine's Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluative Sciences Research and the Center for Global Health in the Division of Infectious Diseases.
Hepatitis C virus can be transmitted a number of ways, including piercings/tattoos and certain methods of recreational drug use. Dr. Andrew Talal has been invited to join the Division of Viral Hepatitis at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an external advisory group, analyzing whether to recommend HCV testing for people born between 1945 and 1965.
Daniel W. Fitzgerald, M.D., Warren D. Johnson, Jr., M.D., and Robert N. Peck, M.D., and the Global Health Center secured a Mulago Foundation grant for $560,000 over three years to support health innovations at Weill Bugando Medical School in Tanzania.
Known for his unconventional approach in the field of tuberculosis research, Dr. Rhee has been working at the molecular level studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) since 2006. He has pursued a course of study that challenges longstanding assumptions about the basic biology of Mtb, the causative agent of TB-with a particular interest in the biological basis of latency.
Jean W. Pape, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Founding Director of the AIDS research and treatment organization GHESKIO, has received a Clinton Global Citizen Award. Established by President William J. Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative in 2007, the award recognizes individuals who have championed innovative solutions to pressing global problems.
Following President William J. Clinton's recent visit to GHESKIO in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, President George W. Bush toured the city on August 10. Partners in the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, established to raise financial support for international aid efforts in post-earthquake Haiti, their visits bring fresh attention to the relief efforts, including extensive emergency aid coordinated by GHESKIO.
Clinical studies at GHESKIO in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, have confirmed that early initiation of antiretroviral therapy significantly increases survival rates among HIV-1 patients. The study also links early intervention with a decreased rate of incident tuberculosis, a leading cause of death among HIV patients in resource-poor countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Fellows Research Award is presented annually to fellows within the Department of Medicine who have presented outstanding research.
GHESKIO, an institution in Haiti founded nearly three decades ago to fight HIV/AIDS, has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Gates Award for Global Health for its years of groundbreaking clinical service, research, and training to effectively treat and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other related illnesses.
Dr. David Calfee serves as the new Chief Hospital Epidemiologist at NYP/Weill Cornell. Dr. Stephen Wilson is a new Hospital Epidemiologist. Thomas Walsh, M.D. is the new Director of the Transplantation-Oncology Infectious Diseases Program.
