Pisacano Leadership Foundation Names 2016 Pisacano Scholars

The Pisacano Leadership Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), recently selected Brianne Huffstetler Rowan, 4th year medical student at the UW School of Medicine, as one of their 2016 Pisacano Scholars. These 5 scholars and medical students follow in the footsteps of 103 scholar alumni who are practicing physicians and 20 current scholars who are enrolled in medical schools or family medicine residency programs across the country.

Nature Research Honors Julie Overbaugh, PhD, for Lifetime of Mentoring

Julie Overbaugh, PhD, Affiliate Professor in the UW Department of Global Health, scientist and member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Endowed Chair of Graduate Education, received the lifetime achievement Nature Award for Mentoring in Science and a $10,000 prize in December. Nature hosts these annual awards to champion the importance of mentoring and inspiring a generation of young scientists.

Hutch News: On The Path to a New-Generation Malaria Vaccine

By Mary Engel

Researchers may be one step closer to a truly effective malaria vaccine, a new study suggests. A genetically modified malaria parasite worked as designed in its first human clinical trial, causing neither malaria nor serious safety problems in the 10 people who volunteered to be infected. It also stimulated an immune response that holds out promise of a more protective vaccine than the single candidate now in pilot studies

VOA News: Genetically Engineered Vaccine Prevents Malaria in Mice, Findings Show

By Jessica Berman

A genetically engineered malaria vaccine has been shown to prevent the disease in mice, researchers say. The findings offer hope of halting the illness in humans, as well as stopping transmission of the mosquito-borne disease.

Researchers at the Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) at the University of Washington, in conjunction with the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, have developed a vaccine that uses the entire malaria-causing parasite — called P. falciparum — to stimulate a protective immune response.

SPH Close Up: Joel Kaufman, Interim Dean

Before he earned his MD, Joel Kaufman was a best-selling author — for a week, at least.

In 1982, he took a year off from his studies to work for the consumer advocacy Public Citizen Health Research Group in Washington, D.C. The result was a book, Over the Counter Pills That Don’t Work.

EurekAlert: Why Some People May Not Respond to the Malaria Vaccine

Creating protective immunity against the early liver stage of malaria infection is feasible, but has been difficult to achieve in regions with high rates of malaria infection. Many current malaria vaccines target the pre-erythrocytic stage of infection in the liver, however in endemic regions, increased blood stage exposure is associated with decrease vaccine efficacy, challenging current malaria vaccine efforts. 

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