上海全球视野论坛第12期：Global Health and Malaria Control

时间：2022年7月16日（周六）12:30-14:00

地点：线上ZOOM Meeting ID: 843 3124 2990，Password: 220716

1. A Serological Test for “Undetectable” Malaria Infections

Dr Rhea Longley is a Senior Research Officer in the Mueller Laboratory, Population Health and Immunity Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Dr Longley is an immunologist with expertise in vaccine development and immuno-epidemiology.

Her current research focuses on the development of serosurveillance tools for uncovering hidden malaria infections, understanding protein-specific antibody kinetics, and identifying targets and mechanisms of immunity against symptomatic malaria infections. She has extensive experience working in malaria-endemic regions of Thailand, and has a particular focus on the species Plasmodium vivax. She received her DPhil in 2014 from the University of Oxford.

2. China’s Lessons in Malaria Elimination

Dr Ning Xiaois the Deputy Director and Professor of the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases at China CDC and Chinese Center for Tropical Diseases Research. Dr. Xiao has been working on parasitic diseases control and research for 36 years.

Dr. Xiao was a visiting scholar in the University of Tokyo, Japan, with a focus on study of immunological pathogenesis of cerebral malaria from 1997 to1998. He completed his PhD study in Asahikawa Medical University, Japan, during which he conducted a systematic research on echinococcosis diagnosis and Echinococcus biology, and discovered a new species named as Echinococcus shiquicus. Dr. Xiao also makes his contribution to the achievement of China’s malaria elimination.

Since 2015, he has actively been engaged in global health, participating in the China - UK - Tanzania Pilot Cooperation Project on Malaria Control, the China - Tanzania Demonstration Project on Malaria Control and the Australia - China - PNG Trilateral Cooperation Project on Malaria Control. As a team leader, Dr. Xiao worked in Sierra Leone of the west Africa on technical assistance to infectious diseases surveillance for one year. As a Chinese medical team member, he undertook a mission of technical support to Italy for containing COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Dr. Xiao is currently the members of WHO/NTD STAG, TDR-JCB and RAI-RSC, and the Secretary General of the Global Health Branch of Chinese Preventive Medicine Association. 199 academic papers have been published and 13 patents authorized.

3. Global Health and Malaria Control

Dr Kokouvi Kassegne is the Assistant Professor and Supervisor of Master and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) of the School of Global Health, Chinese Centre for Tropical Diseases Research, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Dr Kassegne’s team investigates mainly on protozoan parasites infection and host immunity.

His primary research interest and expertise focuses on the use of immunologic, genetic, and high-throughput tools for the control of protozoan diseases. His current research is targeted to Plasmodium-human host interactions—the roles surface proteins play in malaria severity/immunity and understanding of functional variations of malaria blood-stage molecules for the development of severe malaria vaccines and malaria diagnostics. He has long-standing experience in the design, implementation, coordination, and evaluation of (i) molecular and serological epidemiology in different settings, (ii) humoral immune responses to antigens for correlates of clinical immunity, (iii) genomic research to understand molecular variations in protozoan parasites, and (iv) in scientific publications (over 20 publications in peer-reviewed international journals, 1 book chapter).

Dr Kassegne also has a keen interest in investigating on zoonoses of public health importance, e.g., tick-borne infections and, currently leads studies on transmission risks of tick-borne pathogens/diseases in the One Health context.