Global team finds that artemesinin therapies are as safe as quinine for women in first trimester

By Sarah C.B. Guthrie 

Artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs), medications widely used against malaria, are safe to administer to women in their first trimester of pregnancy, according to research published today. ACTs had previously been recommended at that stage of pregnancy only in life-saving circumstances. 

From the time she was 11 years old, Halima Freudberg dreamed of serving in the Peace Corps. Hailing from Philadelphia, she studied Psychology and Gender and Sexuality Studies at nearby Bryn Mawr College.  After graduation, Halima realized her dream of joining the Peace Corps and travelled to a rural village in Cameroon.

Two long-time SPH faculty members, Stephen Bezruchka and Mary Anne Mercer, established a unique and timely endowed professorship. The Bezruchka Family Endowed Professorship for the Public Understanding of Population Health seeks to fund a distinguished scholar focused on the study, teaching and dissemination of knowledge about population health. The new fund will continue the couple’s legacy as activists and defenders of underserved and under-resourced communities.

In celebration of the many achievements of recent alumni, the University of Washington, Department of Global Health (DGH) is accepting nominations for the first annual DGH Alumni Early Achievement Award. Submissions will be reviewed by a committee of faculty, staff and alumni. One alumnus will be selected and recognized at the DGH Global Healthies Poster Competition and Award Ceremony, to be held on Monday, May 15 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.