Matthew Neale

Matt is a rising second-year medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a minor in music recording from Northeastern University. Prior to his matriculation at Brown, Matt worked as a research assistant at Women & Infants Hospital in Rhode Island for two years, where he investigated the mechanisms underlying fungal infections in premature infants. Matt’s interest in global health dates back to his college years, where he spent a semester conducting malaria research at the University of Heidelberg Medical School in Germany. Outside of school, Matt is an avid musician, having played guitar for 14 years. He continues to play at local venues around Rhode Island as time allows.

Project: "Interaction of Prevalent Comorbidities on Adverse Infant Outcomes in the Philippines"
6/02/2018 - 7/20/2018
Phillippines

What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
The Kean Fellowship has granted me an extraordinary opportunity to participate in clinical research in a global health setting. With this award, I have the ability to observe firsthand how clinical research is implemented in the field.

What do you anticipate learning?
Though I have a particularly strong background in basic sciences related to infectious disease and global health, I know relatively little about other fields of global health research. Specifically, I have been interested in clinical research and epidemiology for some time. My project in the Philippines will provide an incredible opportunity for in-depth exposure to clinical study designs in low- and middle-income countries, a setting in which I hope to perform studies in my future career.

What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?
Much of tropical medicine concerns diseases of poverty that are readily treatable and preventable if the affected communities are given the adequate resources that they deserve. Nonetheless, millions (even billions) of people suffer from these diseases because the appropriate resources have not been made available. In conducting tropical medicine research, we give a voice to those who are needlessly suffering from these diseases. By raising awareness of these diseases through research, hopefully we can gather the international support needed to eradicate these diseases and make them a thing of the past.