Researchers from Around the World Gather for UW Tuberculosis Symposium

The University of Washington Tuberculosis Research & Training Center (TRTC) held its fourth annual Tuberculosis Symposium on September 16, 2019. Over 100 researchers from UW, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Stanford University, IHME, and others participated in the symposium. The Symposium, entitled “Innovations to help end the TB epidemic; a new vision for the 21st century,” featured sessions on TB vaccines, the risk of TB disease in children, and TB control interventions, and showcased innovations to help end the TB epidemic, both locally and globally.

Global Health Professor Receives $1.4 Million Grant to Study New Technologies in Tuberculosis Testing

A new grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will allow Paul Drain, a professor in the UW Department of Global Health, to conduct clinical evaluation studies of point-of-care tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic tests. These rapid tests deliver quick results to patients and clinicians in hospital and community clinics. By accelerating the initiation of TB treatment, patients may have better outcomes and will be less likely to transmit TB to others. TB has become the leading infectious cause of mortality in the world, due partly to poorly performing diagnostic test practices.

Comprehensive Health Study in India Finds Rise of Non-communicable Diseases

By Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

A new state-by-state health analysis in India finds that over two decades heart- and lung-related conditions, as well as other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), have surpassed infectious diseases, such as diarrhea and tuberculosis, as the nation’s leading killers. The extent of this difference, however, varies significantly among the nation’s 29 states and seven union territories.

In the Fight to End TB, UW Establishes New Partnership in Bangladesh

By Alex Murphy

World TB Day, celebrated each year on March 24th, is an opportunity to raise awareness about the global burden of tuberculosis (TB).  The 2017 World TB Day theme is “Unite to End TB,” and some faculty from the University of Washington (UW) embodied the work by creating a new partnership in Bangladesh. 

Washington Tuberculosis Expert Receives Local Public Health Award

Masa Narita, MD, Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology and Global Health at the University of Washington School of Public Health, received the Noreen Harris Award for Excellence in Public Health Epidemiology for his work in tuberculosis (TB) surveillance and epidemiology. The award is presented annually by Public Health – Seattle & King County.

Dr. Narita is the TB disease control officer for King County in Washington state, and he has been at the helm of the Tuberculosis Control Program (TBCP) at Public Health – Seattle & King County for 12 years.

Politifact: Does Tuberculosis Top HIV/AIDS as the Deadlier Disease?

By John Greenburg

Among nations, the United States is the runaway leader in the money it spends on global health programs, and the looming question for advocates is what will happen under President Donald Trump and a Republican Congress. Nick Seymour, a Harvard junior volunteering at a health clinic in Mexico, argued for sustained spending.