Mentoring in Translational Malaria Genomics

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PROJECT SUMMARY Dr. Jonathan Juliano is an internationally recognized leader in malaria research and a pioneer in the use of next generation sequencing technologies for applied genomics projects. He is a Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he has helped to establish a major center for translational malaria research. He has had continuous independent NIH funding since 2010. Dr. Juliano is committed to an academic career in patient-oriented research (POR), in which he and his trainees address problems with direct relevance to malaria control, He is recognized as an outstanding mentor, having received the prestigious 2016 Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction at UNG for his strong record of mentoring trainees, which focuses on Infectious Disease fellows and MD/PhD students students involved in POR The proposed renewal of his K24 award will allow Dr. Juliano to develop new research skills to enhance his research expertise and mentorship by gaining skills in spatial and transmission modeling of malaria, by learning strategies for effective leadership, and by building on the mentoring skills developed in his K24. In particular, he will newly focus on skills specifically for mentoring diverse groups of trainees through both formal and informal guidance. To foster the career development of his trainees, Dr. Juliano will leverage the extensive training resources available at UNG, including the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, the Gillings School of Global Public Health, and the School of Medicine. Dr. Juliana's involvement in these programs, as well as the School of Medicine MD/PhD program and the UNG Infectious Diseases Fellowship program, ensures that he will be well positioned to recruit and mentor trainees. The proposed CAMMM study (Comparative Analysis of Methods for Malaria Movement) will aid the malaria elimination agenda by providing a better understanding of how parasites move in space in different transmission settings, Understanding the spatial dynamics of parasite migration and transmission can help define hot spots for intervention, define importation, and inform models to predict the spread of resistance. However, to realize this goal, a better understanding of what genomic methods work in different locations and transmission intensities is needed. Combining advances in genotyping with training in spatial and transmission modeling though didactic and a mentored experience at Imperial College London will provide Dr. Juliano and his mentees the ability to strengthen their research and translate their genomic findings into actionable information. The proposed K24 will permit Dr. Juliano to develop a research platform that is a natural extension of his previous work, will result in a significant methodological advance for the study of malaria transmission, will enhance his mentoring skills to ensure an equitable environment for all trainees, and will establish new research opportunities to foster the career development and mentoring of trainees and young faculty members in POR.