Tag: Voices from the Vanguard

Malaria researcher promotes global efforts to rid disease from endemic areas

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Physician and researcher Richard W. Steketee, director of the Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa MACEPA, has been fascinated by the malaria parasite for 35 years.  On April 11, he will visit the University of Georgia to discuss current efforts to banish the disease from parts of Africa where it has a stubborn hold.

“The United States rid itself of malaria by the early 1950s and certified this accomplishment in 1969.  Between 2000 and 2015, 17 countries eliminated malaria.  This has not yet happened for any of the 44 sub-Saharan African malaria-endemic nations and this is a roadblock to change and progress for an entire continent,” Steketee said.  “I would love to witness that change, and we are getting closer every day—but still need a serious step forward.”

Steketee’s talk, “Eliminating Malaria — Can the Glass Ceiling be Broken?” takes place at 5:30 p.m. in the UGA Chapel.  It is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception at Demosthenian Hall, next door to the Chapel.

The lecture concludes the 2017 Global Diseases: Voices from the Vanguard series, co-sponsored by the UGA Grady College Health and Medical Journalism graduate program and the UGA Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.

MACEPA, created in 2004, works to control and eliminate malaria in sub-Saharan African countries where the disease is endemic. Ethiopia, Senegal, and Zambia are its current focus. In addition to leading programs and research studies from PATH headquarters, Steketee has participated in and led numerous programs and research studies in the field.

All told, Steketee has spent more than seven years living in sub-Saharan African countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Sudan, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and is a scientific contributor and editor for the “Roll Back Malaria Progress and Impact Series,” which produces detailed thematic and country-by-country reports about malaria control and elimination. This reflects his interest in translating science into policy and action.

Before joining MACEPA, Steketee spent 21 years with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and retired after being chief of the malaria branch for five years. He is proficient in French and board certified in both Family Practice and Preventive Medicine.  Steketee earned his BA and MPH from Harvard University and his MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

The annual Global Diseases: Voices from the Vanguard lecture series is co-organized by Patricia Thomas, Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism at Grady College, and Daniel G. Colley, professor of microbiology at UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.

Lifelong advocates to speak about U.S. global efforts to combat HIV/AIDS

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Two top deputies working alongside Deborah L. Birx, M.D., Ambassador-at-Large and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator at the U.S. Department of State, will chart the scientific progress against AIDS and enduring barriers to stopping its spread at 5:30 p.m. on March 21, 2017, at the University of Georgia Chapel.

Birx, the program’s original speaker, is unable to attend due to a family health emergency. Sandra L. Thurman, chief strategy officer, and Cornelius Baker, chief policy advisor, both from the United States Department of State’s Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy, will present “The War Against AIDS, 35 Years and Counting: Are We There Yet?”

The lecture is part of the Global Diseases: Voices from the Vanguard series. It is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception at Demosthenian Hall, next door to the Chapel. The program is co-sponsored by the UGA Grady College Health and Medical Journalism graduate program and the UGA Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.

“When Sandra Thurman and Cornelius Baker got involved with AIDS advocacy during the early years of the epidemic, most patients died within two years of being diagnosed,” said Patricia Thomas, Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism at Grady College. “Many of them were gay men who were shunned by their families and stigmatized even by some health providers. Thurman and Baker and other passionate advocates helped make their lives better and helped mobilize resources domestically and internationally. Today, they continue to have a global impact due to their roles with PEPFAR.”

Thurman is a graduate of Mercer University who later earned an M.A. in Community Pastoral Care and HIV/AIDS from St. Paul’s University in Limuru, Kenya.

For the past 30 years, she has been a leader in improving HIV/AIDS programs and policies at the local, national, and global levels.

She is the chief strategy officer in the United States Department of State’s Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy. She also serves on the faculty at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory.

Thurman launched her advocacy career with AID Atlanta, the oldest and largest AIDS service organization in the South. She was President Bill Clinton’s White House AIDS czar during the late 1990s. She has also held leadership positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and for the Task Force for Child Survival and Development at the Carter Center. In addition to her AIDS work, Thurman has made important contributions to polio eradication, women’s health, children’s health, and cancer prevention and treatment.

Baker, chief policy advisor in the United States Department of State’s Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy, will join Thurman for the question and answer session and reception following the lecture. He has worked at every level of the AIDS response during the past three decades, advising elected officials and leading national nonprofit organizations.

The 2017 Global Diseases: Voices from the Vanguard series will close on April 11 with Richard W. Steketee MD, MPH, director, Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa Program, PATH, who will speak about moving to malaria elimination in parts of Africa.

The annual lecture series is co-organized by Thomas and Daniel G. Colley, professor of microbiology and director of UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.

NPR science journalist tells about covering everything from AIDS to Zika

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NPR health correspondent and senior editor Rob Stein has covered global infectious diseases since the early days of the AIDS pandemic, also reporting on emerging pathogens such as SARS and perennial threats such as influenza.  On Tuesday, Jan. 24, Stein will visit the University of Georgia to talk about his journey as he opens the 2017 Global Diseases: Voices from the Vanguard lecture series.

Stein’s talk, “From AIDS to Zika: The view from the NPR Science Desk,” takes place at 5:30 p.m. in the UGA Chapel and is free and open to the public. It is the first of three events sponsored by the UGA Grady College Health and Medical Journalism graduate program and the UGA Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.

“There are a lot of parallels between the early days of the AIDS epidemic and what’s been going on this past year with Zika,” Stein said.  “They’re very different in a lot of ways, but similar in that so much was not known and there was so much fear and concern about [AIDS] in the early days.”

During his talk, Stein will explain why specialized journalism matters and how he moved from general assignment reporting to the health and science beat.

“I started off in journalism as a general news reporter and fell into science journalism by accident in a lot of ways,” Stein said.  “I kind of fell in love with it and stuck with it, and it’s led me to all these different stories over the years.”

Stein is drawn to stories that illustrate the intersection of science, health, politics, social trends, ethics, and federal science policy. At NPR, he tracks genetics, stem cells, cancer research, women’s health issues and other science, medical, and health policy news.

Whether the topic is a new set of dietary guidelines or laboratory research, Stein says he takes the same approach: storytelling.

“I try to give readers and listeners insights by telling human stories about how a disease or biomedical research affects people on a personal level,” he explained.  “Even though a lot of times I am covering very basic research, I always try to bring it down to the human scale if I can.”

Before NPR, Stein worked at The Washington Post for 16 years, first as the newspaper’s science editor and then as a national health reporter. Earlier in his career, Stein spent about four years as an editor at NPR’s science desk. Before that, he was a science reporter for United Press International (UPI) in Boston and the science editor for the international wire service in Washington.

Stein is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed a journalism fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health, a program in science and religion at the University of Cambridge, and a summer science writer’s workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.

Stein’s work has been honored by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association of Health Care Journalists.

The 2017 Global Diseases: Voices from the Vanguard series continues with two additional speakers:

March 21— Deborah L. Birx, M.D., International AIDS researcher and former Ambassador-at-Large, U.S. Department of State, who will talk about global efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS.

April 11— Richard W. Steketee MD, MPH, Director, Malaria Control and Elimination Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) Program, PATH, who will speak about moving to malaria elimination in parts of Africa.

All lectures begin at 5:30 p.m. in the UGA Chapel and each is followed by a free public reception at Demosthenian Hall, next door to the Chapel.

The annual lecture series is co-organized by Patricia Thomas, Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism at Grady College, and Daniel G. Colley, professor of microbiology and director of UGA’s Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases.