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Weekly News and Notes
From the Duke Global Health Institute
Greetings!
Today we're pleased to showcase the important results of research being conducted by a number of DGHI faculty members. This research is the cornerstone of DGHI's efforts to make a lasting change in health disparities around the world.
Also, we were pleased to welcome nearly 100 guests, including President and Mrs. Brodhead, to yesterday's DGHI Holiday Celebration. In brief remarks, President Brodhead offered his congratulations on the "outstanding progress the Institute has made" as well as his continued support for our work. Check out photos from yesterday's DGHI Holiday Celebration posted on our Flickr page.
Finally, DGHI joins the Duke School of Medicine in welcoming Mary Klotman as the new chair of medicine. Read more about Dr. Klotman below.
Until next week,
Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI |
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HIV Prevalence Declines with Increased Access to Care and Treatment in Moshi, Tanzania
Over the four-year study, Duke researchers found HIV prevalence and rates of symptoms declined sharply at an established freestanding voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) site in Moshi, Tanzania. They concluded that HIV prevalence decreased from 26.2% to 18.9% after the availability of free antiretroviral therapy and the expansion of care and treatment centers beyond regional and referral hospitals.
Voluntary counseling and testing has long been seen as an important intervention in sub-Saharan Africa, offering an individualized, client-centered approach that addresses prevention of transmission between partners and between mother and child. VCT also provides opportunities for early identification of infection, allowing for more effective treatment of HIV/AIDS and its coinfections, especially as access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) continues to expand. Read the full article.
Lessons From Africa: A Profile of John Bartlett's HIV Research in Tanzania
Medical research can narrow the gap in care delivery between developed countries and low- and middle-income countries, according to John Bartlett, DGHI Associate Director for Research and professor of medicine. In his roles as researcher and clinician at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) in Moshi, Tanzania, Bartlett found that cost and stigma are leading barriers to HIV testing and treatment, and that community engagement is an important driver of research and discovery.
Since 2001, Bartlett has been involved in developing and testing novel antiretroviral therapies, studying viral relapse and remission during antiretroviral treatment, evaluating the immunogenicity of peptide vaccines, and developing methods to enhance thymic immunity in people infected with HIV.
Read more about John Bartlett's HIV work in "Lessons from Africa," a monograph published by Practice Point: HIV. It profiles Bartlett and two other distinguished American physicians as they share their experiences and accomplishments in HIV treatment in Africa over the past decade. (Registration may be required to view the website link above.) |
New and Noteworthy
School of Medicine Names New Chair of Medicine
Mary E. Klotman, M.D., chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and co-director of the Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has been named the chair of the Department of Medicine for Duke University School of Medicine. Klotman is expected to assume her new role in the first quarter of 2010.
 "I couldn't be more pleased that Dr. Klotman has accepted this critically important role within the Duke University School of Medicine. She has an impressive track record in successfully leading
the academic and clinical missions of her division at Mount Sinai, and has earned the respect of leaders in academic medicine throughout the country," said Nancy Andrews, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the Duke University School of Medicine. "Today, we are dealing with unprecedented challenges in all three of our missions -- teaching, research, and patient care. We need disciplined, creative and visionary leadership, and we are confident that we have found all of these in Mary."
An accomplished scientist and clinician, Klotman held the position of chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Mount Sinai for the past 13 years, and more recently was named co-director of Mount Sinai's Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute, a program designed to translate basic science discoveries into clinical therapeutics for newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Prior to this appointment in 2007, she had served as director of the Emerging Pathogens Center. She is also a professor of medicine and microbiology and associate professor of gene and cell medicine at Mount Sinai. Read more.
Research by DGHI Member Christina Meade to be Published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
DGHI Member and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Christina Meade, studied the effectiveness of using an alternative method of acupuncture as an adjunctive treatment for patients receiving inpatient detoxification.
 The alternative treatment, called transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation (TEAS), uses skin electrodes to apply electrical stimulation to acupoints. In China, randomized clinical trials have found that patients who receive active stimulation experience less severe heroin withdrawal symptoms during inpatient opioid detoxification.
The results of the study, "A randomized trial of transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation as adjunctive treatment for opioid detoxification," which will be published next month in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, suggest that TEAS may contribute to improved outcomes in patients with opioid dependence. Following discharge from the hospital, participants who received active TEAS reported significantly greater improvements in pain interference and overall physical health, and they abstained from drugs for longer. They were more than two times less likely to have used drugs by the 2-week follow-up visit. The results of this pilot study suggest that TEAS is an acceptable adjunctive treatment for patients seeking inpatient opioid detoxification.
New Micro-credit Intervention to Prevent Violence and HIV Targets Young Men Through Social Networks
The research of Duke Global Health Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Nina Yamanis is featured in the winter issue of IPRC News, a publication from the Injury Prevention Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Yamanis, who completed her doctoral degree at UNC, is studying the influence of social venues on HIV risk behavior and the prevalence of concurrent partnerships among young men in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Social networks are critical for reaching young men in this capital city, where the rates for HIV infection are among the worst in the nation.
Yamanis will begin the second phase of her research through DGHI early next month, which will include a microfinance pilot program. By providing these young men with business skills to support income-generating activities, Yamanis hopes the intervention will discourage risky sexual behaviors.
"These young men are poor, unemployed, and are probably living day to day. They don't think about living a long life," said Yamanis. "Having goals might impact their feelings about their health."
Duke is Blogging from Copenhagen Climate Change Summit
Follow 18 members of the Duke community as they blog from the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will conclude Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark. Bloggers include students, faculty and staff from Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Fuqua School of Business. Read their blog. |
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Faculty News and Funding
Funding Opportunities
Request for Proposals: Small Grants to Support Research in Family Planning and Reproductive Health
MEASURE Evaluation Population & Reproductive Health Associate Award (PRH) is pleased to announce a small grants program to build the evidence base in family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH), support the research efforts of developing country researchers and their institutions, and maximize opportunities to use research findings for decision-making. Deadline to apply is December 31. Read more >>
Medical & Academic Partnerships (MAP) is a program developed by Pfizer, which supports advances in clinical medicine and public health and supports cross-fertilization between leading healthcare experts and educational institutions. MAP fellowships and professorships are open to US-based schools of medicine, colleges of osteopathic medicine, nursing schools, pharmacy schools, and schools of public health, unless otherwise noted. Deadline to apply is January 31. Read more >>
NCMHD Health Disparities Research on Minority and Underserved Populations (R01)
The overarching goal of this FOA is to solicit innovative research addressing elements that eliminates health disparities. Research focused on disease and/or conditions that disproportionately affect racial/ethnic minorities is a growing field and has been employed lately in understanding dynamics contributing to health disparities. Read more >>
Education Opportunity
DGHI Postdoctoral Research Program - Call for Applications
The Duke Global Health Institute invites applications for up to two two-year postdoctoral fellowships to begin in July 2010 and end in August 2012. Fellows will work under the mentorship of a DGHI Faculty Member, a DGHI Faculty Affiliate, or other Duke faculty whose research focuses on DGHI's signature research initiatives.Deadline to apply is January 12. Read more >>
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DGHI Fieldwork Project Opportunities
The Duke Global Health Institute is accepting applications for 14 projects in nine countries next summer. DGHI's fieldwork opportunities range in topic from maternal health and infectious diseases to community development, health education and access to care. View all new opportunities. Read more >>
DukeEngage Accepting Applications for On-the-Ground Coordinators in Summer 2010
The On-The-Ground Coordinator is a key member and front-line administrator of each DukeEngage site. The OTGC's primary responsibilities are to mentor program participants; support faculty/staff site leader(s); serve as the liaison between students, Deadline to apply is December 18. Read more >>
Carolina for Kibera Summer Internship - Call for Applications
The Carolina for Kibera (CFK) Program is currently accepting applications for its summer internship program. The CFK Summer Internship Program, which hosts interns from Duke each summer, is a unique experience for students to engage in grassroots participatory community development. Deadline is January 1. Read more >>
Education Opportunities
DGHI MSc-GH Program - Call for Applications
The Duke Global Health Institute, in collaboration with the Duke Graduate School, is accepting applications for the second cohort of the Master of Science in Global Health (MSc-GH) program, which will begin in August 2010. Deadline to apply is January 30. Read more >>
The Villers Fellowship for Health Care Justice - Call for Applications
The Villers Fellow will work as a full-time policy analyst in Families USA's Health Policy Department. The Fellowship is based in the Families USA office in Washington, D.C. and is designed to provide the Fellow with a national perspective on health care justice work and the opportunity to learn about a range of health care justice issues.Deadline to apply is January 15. Read more >>
2010 Sandbox Fellowship by the Deshpande Foundation
The Deshpande Foundation welcomes motivated individuals to apply to our 2010 Fellows Program. The Deshpande Foundation, founded in 1996, is a leading philanthropic foundation in Massachusetts and India in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship and international development. Deadline to apply is January 4. Read more >>
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December 17, 2009» 7:30-9am
NC Biotechnology Center, Research Triangle Park
98 Solterra Way, Durham
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January 20, 2010 »
4:30-6pm
John Hope Franklin Center, Room 240
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January 21, 2010 » 4:30pm
Duke School of Nursing Auditorium, Room 1014
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View more upcoming events.
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"Stronger state regulations aimed at child-care centers have the potential to reduce the risk of obesity for millions of children in the U.S. These providers are in a unique position to encourage very young children to eat healthy foods and be active."
-- Sara Benjamin, DGHI Affiliate, assistant professor in Department of Community and Family Medicine
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"If successful, the initial phase could lead to additional Duke programs at the site, including global health, public policy, and masters in engineering and environmental science."
"Our program has made significant progress in the past year. It aims to act as the regional centre for reference and research in the Asia-Pacific region."
-- Duane Gubler, DGHI Affiliate, director of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School's Infectious Diseases program.
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