February 13, 2018

People in the news - February 2018

	Pharma exec is new HHS chief Former Eli Lilly executive Alex Azar has been sworn in as the new HHS Secretary. Under President George W. Bush, Azar served as general counsel and then as deputy secretary at HHS. A lawyer by training, Azar previously clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
	Lifetime achievement award for Pape In recognition of his outstanding contributions to his profession, Dr. Jean (Bill) Pape has received the Lifetime Achievement award from publisher Marquis Who’s Who. A longtime Fogarty grantee and professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, Pape founded and directs Haiti's largest provider of HIV and AIDS care, the GHESKIO Centers.
	John joins ASTMH leadership Fogarty grantee Dr. Chandy John is president-elect of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) and will become president in October. Director of the Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Disease and Global Health at Indiana University, John conducts malaria and child health research and training in Uganda and Kenya.
	Former grantee wins top tropical medicine award The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) has recognized Dr. Margaret Kosek for her distinguished work. Kosek, who held a Fogarty grant for early-career scientists, is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where her research focuses on enteric infections in children and malaria epidemiology in the Peruvian Amazon.
	NIH-led program, scientists win Prince Mahidol Awards The Human Genome Project and two NIH scientists who developed a childhood vaccine received 2017 Prince Mahidol Awards. Related News Sequencing Human Genome with Pocket-Sized "Nanopore" Device Blog post by NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins, Feb 6, 2018 Recognized in the field of medicine, the Human Genome Project was the international effort to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the genes it contains. Dr. Francis S. Collins , now NIH director, led the project, which began in 1990 and was completed in 2003. Dr. John B. Robbins and Dr. Rachel Schneerson , who are both retired from NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), received the public health award for development of the Hib vaccine. Used to protect against Haemophilus influenzae type b - the bacteria that causes meningitis, pneumonia and other infections primarily in young children - the vaccine is recommended by the WHO and CDC. The Prince Mahidol Awards are an international honor, named after the prince considered "The Father of Modern Medicine and Public Health of Thailand."
	UK announces new chief science advisor The UK government tapped pharmaceutical company executive Dr. Patrick Vallance to be its next chief science advisor and head of the office for science, effective in April. Vallance, a clinical pharmacologist, is president of R&D at GlaxoSmithKline. He will replace Sir Mark Walport, who will head a new funding body, UK Research and Innovation.

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