For Immediate ReleaseJanuary 23, 2001
Contact: Christopher Smalley(617) 638-8491[email protected]
Leading International Public Health Researchers Join Boston University School of Public Health
Boston, MA- Thirteen leading researchers have joined the Department of International Health at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), bringing to the school a wealth of international public health knowledge and the well-respected Applied Research on Child Health (ARCH) Program. The main objective of the ARCH Program is to support policy and program relevant research in order to reduce the global burden of mortality and morbidity from common childhood diseases.
Jonathon Simon, DSc, MPH, principal investigator and project director, ARCH Project; Donald M. Thea, MD, MSc, scientific director, ARCH Project; and eleven colleagues will assume active roles at BUSPH on February 1, 2001.
The ARCH Project, formerly located at the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), is a component of the USAID Office of Health and Nutrition's Child Health Research Project. The ARCH Project team works closely with colleagues at the World Health Organization, UNICEF, The World Bank and other international health organizations. Currently the research portfolio consists of more than 50 research studies in 14 countries. Thea also is the principal investigator of the Zambia Exclusive Breast Feeding Study (ZEBS), a National Institutes of Health-funded trial investigating the links between mode of breast feeding and perinatal transmission of HIV in Zambia.
"The arrival of Drs. Simon, Thea, and their colleagues increases the University's visibility as a leader in international health and complements the work of the International Health Department at the School of Public Health," said Jon Westling, president, Boston University. "Students will be the true beneficiaries of this renowned group."
"We are excited that these talented and highly respected international health researchers are joining the Boston University School of Public Health staff," said Robert Meenan, MD, MPH, MBA, dean of the BUSPH.
The International Health Department at BUSPH is actively engaged in helping developing countries or transitional economies build infrastructure in health policy, management, and finance.
"I look forward to working with my new colleagues," said Susan D. Foster, MA, PhD, chair of the International Health Department, BUSPH. "Their approach to health issues affecting developing countries, and the ARCH and ZEBS projects, will further enhance our exceptional faculty."
Simon has been involved in applied health research for more than 15 years. After receiving his first degree in Agriculture and Rural Development and a MPH from the University of California, Berkeley, he joined the Harvard Institute for International Development in 1986. For the past 15 years he has helped develop a multidisciplinary program in applied health research focused primarily on common infectious diseases of children in poor countries. He completed his DSc in Population Sciences and International Health from Harvard School of Public Health while serving as the Principal Investigator of the ARCH Project. Simon's research interests range from disease-specific intervention trials to health and development issues in urban slums.
Thea, with training in infectious diseases (New England Medical Center) and tropical medicine (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), has been performing HIV-associated clinical research in the United States and abroad for more than 10 years. As principal investigator of the New York City Perinatal HIV Transmission Collaborative Study, Thea and colleagues investigated multiple aspects of vertical transmission and pediatric HIV infection including natural history of disease, viral load and transmission, PCP prophylaxis in infants, modeling of incubation period in vertically transmitted HIV, molecular evaluation of transient HIV infection in infants, among other topics. Prior to that, Thea conducted clinical research on the pathophysiology of chronic diarrhea and wasting as part of the notable international collaborative HIV research project, Projet SIDA in Kinshasa, Zaire.
The other researchers joining BUSPH include: Scott Buquor, BA; Elizabeth Burleigh, PhD; Davidson H. Hamer, MD; William MacLeod, ScD; Mubiana Macwan'gi, MBChB, MPH; Deirdre Pierotti, MA; Sydney Rosen, MPA; Pramila Vivek, MA, MEd, MS; Erin Shutes, MPH; and Angela Wakhweya, MSc, MBChB; and Kris Heggenhougen, PhD. Allan Hill, PhD, and Dennis Ross-Degnan, DSc, both from Harvard University, will remain involved with the ARCH Project.
Established in 1976, Boston University School of Public Health is a leading academic and public health research institution, with an enrollment of more than 600 students and nearly 350 full and part-time faculty. It is known for its programs in environmental health, epidemiology and biostatistics, health law, international health, and maternal and child health, among others.
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