Mentoring in patient-oriented research in global health

项目总结

PROJECT SUMMARY Dr. Miriam Laufer devotes her career to conducting research focusing on prevention and treatment of infectious diseases that predominantly impact children in low resource settings and training the next generation of infectious disease researchers. Her initial K24 award period supported her time dedicated to mentoring both U.S.-based and international trainees, with outstanding results. Ninety four percent of her trainees continue to work in academic medicine or research and many of her trainees are now leaders in infectious disease research and policy. Five of her trainees have received career development awards and three serve as principal investigators for independent federal grants. With this renewal application, Dr. Laufer will work with institutional leaders in diversity, equity, and inclusion to enhance her ability to recruit and mentor trainees of diverse backgrounds. Her career development activities will expand her expertise in vaccinology, with a focus on leading vaccine trials with public health impact, and the translation of scientific evidence into policy. The proposed new research will address two areas of Dr. Laufer’s research expertise: (1) Identifying the sources of malaria transmission and the effect of new interventions on the reservoirs of transmission and (2) Assessing the impact of infections during pregnancy on infant health and child development. Through her leadership role in the Malawi International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research, Dr. Laufer and her trainees will evaluate the impact of RTS,S, the newly recommended malaria vaccine, on malaria transmission. Although the vaccine has good efficacy in preventing clinical disease, its impact on asymptomatic P. falciparum infection and the prevalence of gametocytes, the infectious stage of the malaria parasite, has not been well-characterized. With the support of several NIH grants, Dr. Laufer and her team are enrolling a large cohort of HIV exposed and uninfected infants and HIV-unexposed controls to evaluate the impact of exposure on infant immunity and neurocognitive development until the children reach five years of age. Enrollment began prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued through the pandemic, providing the opportunity to carefully examine the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection and its interaction with HIV on infant immunity and child development. Given the paucity of data on the impact of exposure to HIV and SARS-CoV-2 in utero, this is a truly unique and time-sensitive opportunity to investigate both infections in pregnant women and their effect on neonatal, infant, and child outcomes. This K24 renewal will sustain and enhance the supportive mentoring environment for Dr. Laufer’s trainees from undergraduate students through junior faculty and provide innovative and public health relevant research opportunities to develop their independent careers and improve global health.