Announcements

Current

Congratulations to Dr. Corey Casper, who recently received one of four International Infrastructure Awards from the UW/FHCRC Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) International Core. The award will fund space renovations to house a new generator for the production of liquid nitrogen at the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala, Uganda.

Faculty Appointments and Promotions

VIDD has recently appointed several outstanding faculty as affiliate investigators: Dr. Trevor Bedford, University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Dr. Connie Celum, University of Washington, Medicine and Global Health; Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, University of Washington, Medicine and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Ruanne Barnabas, University of Washington, Medicine and Global Health (renewal); Dr. Ajit Limaye, University of Washington, Medicine (renewal), Dr. Robert Hackman, University of Washington, Pathology and Lab Medicine; and Dr. Jia Zhu, University of Washington, Lab Medicine.

Dr. David Fredricks was promoted to VIDD member and Dr. James Dai was promoted to associate member, both in January 2013.

VIDD assistant member Dr. Martin Prlic was recently appointed to affiliate assistant professor and staff scientist Dr. Jennifer Balkus to affiliate instructor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington.

Awards and Honors

The following seven new scholars have been chosen in the HVTN Research and Mentorship Program (RAMP) for Black and Latino Medical Students, 2013-14.

Oluosla "Justin" Ayankola    (mentor Lindsey Baden)
Nubia Chong            (mentors Steve DeRosa, Nicole Frahm)
Sean Fling            (mentors Rick Novak, Michele Andrasik)
Rebecca Obeng            (mentors Dan Barouch, Ken Mayer)
Oscar Padilla            (mentors Esper Kallas, Ken Mayer)
Sharise Richardson        (mentors Hong Van Tieu, Beryl Koblin)
Bennie Taylor            (mentors Hyman Scott, Jonathan Fuchs)

Congratulations to Dr. Corey Casper, who recently received one of four International Infrastructure Awards from the UW/FHCRC Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) International Core. The award will fund  
space renovations to house a new generator for the production of liquid nitrogen at the Uganda Cancer Institute in Kampala, Uganda.

VIDD assistant member Dr. Paul Edlefsen was elected as a new member to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Cancer Consortium. The Consortium includes over 400 faculty from the Center, UW, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Seattle Children’s Hospital and was designed as a collaboratory of doctors and scientists in the Seattle area whose research interests include public health, cancer and basic biology.

New Hires

VIDD welcomes Samantha Mastridge, a new grants and contracts coordinator in Population Sciences Finance, Keala Li in Populations Sciences Applied Statistics as a statistical research associate and David Costanzo in Population Sciences Information Systems as a systems analyst/programmer.

January

Faculty Appointments and Promotions

VIDD Assistant Professor Dr. Josh Schiffer has a joint appointment with the Clinical Research Division and the University of Washington School of Medicine Department of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor. 

Dr. Lakshmi Rajagopal was appointed Affiliate Investigator, effective September 1, 2012. Dr. Rajagopal is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Microbiology and Global Health, University of Washington School of Medicine/Seattle Children’s Research Institute. The division looks forward to her collaboration on new tools in bacterial pathogenesis.

Dr. Angela Campbell was also appointed Affiliate Investigator, effective September 1, 2012. Dr. Campbell is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Washington School of Medicine/Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Dr. Campbell formerly held the position of Associate in VIDD and CRD. She will continue her collaborations with the division, focusing on respiratory virus infections, and their impact on stem cell transplant recipients.

VIDD faculty recently appointed 2 new Staff Scientists, Drs. Jessica Graham and Yao Li, effective October 1, 2012. Dr. Graham works with Dr. Jenny Lund on examining the role of regulatory T cells during flavivirus infection using a mouse model as part of a collaborative U19-funded project centered at the University of Washington Department of Immunology. Dr. Li works in Dr. Peter Gilbert’s group and is interested in how host genetics impact immune responses to vaccination that are hypothesized to have protected some RV144 vaccine recipients from HIV-1 infection, and if and how host genetics modulate the vaccine effect on post-infection endpoints. Dr. Li will collaborate with Dr. Sue Li on this project.

Longtime member of the HVTN team, Niles Eaton, has been promoted to Associate Director of Site Operations.

Congratulations to all!

Awards and Honors

Dr. Tobias Hohl was recently elected as a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in August 2012 for his outstanding contributions to the field.

Congratulations to the following UW doctors, who received ID Week Trainee Awards (both are associated with IDS):

Dr. Cynthia Fisher

Dr. Alpana Waghmare

New Hires

The HVTN welcomes Stephaun Wallace, who will be a Community Engagement Officer in Legacy, starting 1/21/13.

Other

The first defeatHIV Newsletter was recently published on defeatHIV.org. defeatHIV is a collaboration of scientists from the public and private sectors working together with the common goal of HIV eradication. VIDD’s Drs. Keith Jerome, Stephen De Rosa and Martin Prlic are part of this consortium.

Job Openings

There are currently no openings.

Goings

Dr. Olivier Defawe recently left VIDD for a position in biotech. Good luck, Olivier!