Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, you probably didn't expect to be talking quite so much about monkeypox — or to see that an outbreak of the virus, which normally circulates in west and central Africa, would spread to 18 people in nine U.S. states and nearly 180 cases in the U.K.

PAI Life Sciences, a biotechnology company specializing in translational research for neglected tropical diseases, today announced the dosing of the first healthy volunteer in a clinical trial of SchistoShield®, the company’s preventive vaccine against schistosomiasis, a major tropical disease threatening nearly 1 billion people in 79 countries with more than 260 million people currently infected. Darrick Carter, professor of global health, was mentioned.

In March of 2021, Horacio Chacon Torrico arrived in Seattle to begin his second year of graduate studies at the University of Washington School of Public Health, after having completed the first two quarters remotely from his home in Lima, Peru. Within no more than a week of arriving, he received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. But as he scrolled through his Facebook feed, he saw posts from friends in Peru who grieved their lost loved ones from the pandemic. Chacon Torrico felt guilt at having so easily received his vaccine, when so many from his home country were suffering.

On April 11, public schools in Providence, R.I, made face masks optional instead of mandatory for students and teachers—celebrating the move as a “positive milestone” brought about by declining COVID-19 cases among students and community support for a more lenient policy. Brandon Guthrie, Associate Professor of global health, was mentioned.