Newswise — PHILADELPHIA (Dec. 13, 2011) – The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) announced the election of David Walker, MD, as President-Elect, and Daniel Bausch, MD, MPH&TM, and Sarah Volkman, ScD, as new councilors for the 2011-12 term. The new Council members were installed at the Society’s 60th’ Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
David Walker, MD
David Walker, MD, of the University of Texas Medical Branch, investigated Chagas’ disease and studied malaria, leishmaniasis and other tropical diseases during his pathology residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. He served as a commissioned research medical officer at the CDC, where he investigated Lassa fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Walker was an independent investigator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before joining UTMB in 1987, where he led the construction of the Robert E. Shope Laboratory, the first BSL-4 laboratory on an academic campus in the United States.
In addition to serving as the Associate Editor of Emerging Infectious Diseases and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Walker served on the Armed Forces Epidemiology Board, the Defense Health Board and the National Research Council Standing Committee on Biodefense.
Walker assumes the post from James W. Kazura, MD, of Case Western Reserve University. Kazura will be the Society’s President for the 2011-12 term.
Daniel Bausch, MD, MPH&TM
Daniel Bausch, MD, MPH&TM, is an Associate Professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and the Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, at the Tulane University School of Medicine. He is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases with a Masters of Public Health degree in tropical medicine. Dr. Bausch is presently seconded to the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit 6 in Lima, Peru, where he is the Director of the Emerging Infections Department. He specializes in the research and control of emerging tropical viruses.
Formerly with the CDC Special Pathogens Branch, Dr. Bausch has extensive experience in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia combating pathogens such as Ebola and Lassa viruses, hantavirus and SARS coronavirus. He serves as a frequent consultant for the World Health Organization, United Nations and National Institutes of Health. Dr. Bausch places a strong emphasis on capacity building in all his projects and also has a keen interest in the role of the scientist in promoting health and human rights.
Sarah Volkman, ScD
Sarah Volkman, ScD, is a molecular biologist and senior research scientist in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Disease at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a member of the Broad Institute—as well as director of the Institute’s Malaria Diversity Project—and a Professor of Nursing at the School for Health Studies at Simmons College in Boston. With more than 20 years of experience in malaria biology, she is a world expert on malaria with a focus on the mechanisms of drug resistance.
Volkman received a B.S. from the University of California San Diego (cum laude) and a Sc.D. from the Division of Biological Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health. She was appointed senior research scientist at Harvard in 1998.
About ASTMHAmerican Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, founded in 1903, is a worldwide organization of scientists, clinicians and program professionals whose mission is to promote global health through the prevention and control of infectious and other diseases that disproportionately afflict the global poor.
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