Malaria expert Bernard Nahlen to visit UMass Medical School 
By Sandra Gray
UMass Medical School Communications | October 4, 2011 |
Bernard Nahlen, MD |
Malaria is the fifth-leading cause of death from infectious diseases worldwide and the second-leading cause of death from infectious diseases in Africa. But while deadly to so many, the fact that illness and death from malaria is preventable led to the creation of the President’s Malaria Initiative, with its goal to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries. Next week, international malaria expert Bernard Nahlen, MD, who has been the deputy director for the initiative since 2007, will give the UMass Medical School community two opportunities to share his passion as well as knowledge about how to eradicate this global bane.
Dr. Nahlen’s talk “Fighting Harder and Smarter Against Malaria” will take place at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10, and is sponsored by the Office of Global Health. On Friday, Nov. 11, at 8 a.m., he will also present Pediatric Grand Rounds "Progress in Prevention and Treatment of Malaria: At Home and Abroad.” Each presentation will include a review of the disease’s epidemiology; discuss the work and partnerships of the President’s Malaria Initiative; detail tools for prevention, diagnosis and treatment; and describe emerging challenges and opportunities in the global fight against malaria.
Long committed to malaria prevention and control, Nahlen earned his MD from the University of Arkansas in 1983 and began his public health career in 1987 as an officer of the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Epidemic Intelligence Service, Malaria Division. Since then, in subsequent roles with the CDC, World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and now the President’s Malaria Initiative, he has been in the forefront of developments in global partnerships to tackle malaria.
Launched in 2005, the President's Malaria Initiative aims to reduce the burden of malaria and help relieve poverty on the African continent by expanding coverage of four highly effective malaria prevention and treatment measures to the most vulnerable populations: pregnant women and children under the age of five.
Nahlen’s Global Health Lecture and Pediatric Grand Rounds will both take place in Amphitheatre I.
To learn more, contact Jessica Chang in the Office of Global Health at Jessica.chang@umassmed.edu.
Related links on UMassMedNow:
Navy medicine a force for global health
TB experts address a global scourge