Burroughs Wellcome Fund Awards Grant to ASTMH
NORTHBROOK, Ill. — The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene announced receipt of $2 million from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund as part of a multi-year grant supporting tropical medicine research in underserved areas around the globe. Support from the Fund will allow ASTMH to continue and expand a program begun in 2002, that encourages talented young doctors to pursue academic careers in the fight against HIV, malaria, and other tropical scourges.
In 2004, Holly Murphy, M.D., M.P.H used her fellowship award to conduct research in Haiti, where she worked with accompagnateurs (local health workers) to deliver life-saving anti-retroviral medications to rural Haitians. Today, she lives in New Orleans, where she studies and provides care to local HIV-infected residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Every year, diarrheal disease continues to kill two million people living in poverty. Regina LaRoque, M.D., a 2002 awardee of the program, is now using “the clinical and research experiences I gained while working in Bangladesh” to develop better diagnostic, prevention and treatment strategies to combat diarrhea and other diseases that target the developing world.
The fellowship Dan Milner, M.D. received in 2005 allowed him to live in Malawi and study cerebral malaria, the deadliest complication of the mosquito-borne parasite. The work built on his previous training as a pathologist and, he says, “…clinched my decision to develop a career in tropical infectious disease pathology.” For more than 100 years, malaria and other tropical vector-borne diseases have been a major focus of research conducted by many ASTMH members.
The grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund will enable three new fellows to receive a year of salary and research support every year through 2011. In addition, each awardee will be eligible to receive a second year of funding at a later stage of career development. Fellowship applicants must already possess a medical degree, Ph.D, or other doctoral degree. The application deadline for the new, expanded program is October 15, 2006. Applicants will be notified regarding award decisions by early 2007, and funds will be distributed in July 2007. Further details regarding the fellowship program and ASTMH can be found at www.astmh.org.
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (http://www.astmh.org) is the professional membership organization for U.S. as well as international scientists, clinicians and others with interests in the prevention and control of tropical diseases through research and education.
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent private foundation dedicated to advancing the medical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities.