In honor of World Malaria Day, ASTMH asked some of our malaria expert members and colleagues what inspired them to specialize in malaria, what stands out in the fight against malaria and what will be the economic benefit of a malaria-free world. Other interviews in this series include: Past President Christopher V. Plowe, MD, MPH, FASTMH; Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer of the President's Malaria Initiative; Philip Rosenthal, MD, FASTMH, Editor-in-Chief of American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; Councilors Nicole Achee, PhD, ASTMH, Laurence Slutsker, MD, MPH, FASTMH, Rick Fairhurst, MD, PhD, FASTMH; Stephanie Yanow, PhD, Assistant Scientific Program Chair; Capt. Judith E. Epstein, MD, of the Naval Medical Research Center; and Col. Robert M. Paris of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
What situation or person inspired you to specialize in malaria?
My initial motivation was driven by the desire to use genetics to tackle health issues affecting individuals living in poverty-stricken areas in the developing world. My most poignant single motivating encounter was seeing a woman at a health clinic in Kenya silently holding her young son with malaria who was slipping into coma, and realizing that both she and the physician on-site knew that it was too late to treat and achieve a cure. That by morning he would most likely be dead.
Saving lives is what drives you, but what do you see as the economic benefit to eradicating malaria?
The major one is giving families and communities the chance of prospering by not suffering both the emotional and financial burden of repeatedly falling prey to malaria, whether it be a lethal outcome or just frequent morbidity. Even the cost of treatment is a huge economic burden to many households in developing nations.
In thinking about malaria control and elimination efforts in the last five years, what stands out most for you?
I think the remarkable convergence of the private sector investing in control and treatment efforts (e.g., Novartis, GSK) and working closely with the academic community to develop new interventions. Also the tremendous input from the academic community in terms of orienting so much research towards translational tools. The support from the media and the scientific journals has also kept malaria in the spotlight.