Faculty Bibliography

Unlike [Jesica Santillan], most patients who receive second heart transplants do so because their immune systems reject the donor organs. Because the heart and lungs Jesica received came from a person with a mismatched blood type, her body mounted a monster attack on the mismatched organs. Still, Jesica's parents, Melecio and Magdalena, who are from Mexico, celebrated that their daughter, 5 foot 2 and 80 pounds, had been given a second chance when new organs from a donor with matching Type O blood were found late Wednesday. As word of Jesica's plight spread, so did the hunt for organs. Duke Hospital officials pushed all the connections they had, not because of their mistake, they said, but because Jesica's condition was so dire. And worsening

The same could be said of many of the AIDS scientists at the 10th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, where Dr. [Sebastian Lucas] presented a series of stunning, if grim, autopsy photographs. Even though these molecular biologists, statisticians and other scientists are a vital part of the AIDS research team, they do not take care of patients, so they seldom witness the damage that H.I.V. can inflict on various organs and tissues. By the same token, doctors practicing today see autopsy results much less often than did their counterparts a few decades ago because far fewer autopsies are now being done. By contrast, Dr. Lucas has gained an extraordinary perspective on AIDS from having performed 1,000 autopsies on H.I.V. patients in England and Africa. He has found many ways to apply the classic credo of pathology: to learn from the dead to heal the living. Photographs are effective educational tools in medicine as they are in other fields. So Dr. Lucas went on to show slides of other H.I.V.-related conditions like toxoplasmosis, tuberculosis, pneumocystis pneumonia and H.I.V. nephropathy, a kidney disease that is common in blacks

Swedish scientists reported a study supporting the link between the harmless virus, known as GBV-C, and HIV. But the Swedish and American authors disagreed at a meeting in Boston on Thursday about whether GBV-C could cause the apparent benefit or whether it was simply an indicator of something else as yet undetected that might account for the findings. By adding GBV-C to HIV in human blood cells in the laboratory, an American team led by Dr. Jack Stapleton of the University of Iowa found that GBV-C blocked the docking sites on the surface of the CD- 4 blood cell that HIV needs to enter to cause infection. It also found that adding GBV-C led to the production of natural substances called chemokines that are known to inhibit HIV

Swedish scientists reported a study supporting the link between the harmless virus, known as GBV-C, and H.I.V. But the Swedish and American authors disagreed about whether GBV-C could cause the apparent benefit or whether it was simply an indicator of something else -- as yet undetected -- that might account for the variability of H.I.V. infection. By adding GBV-C to H.I.V. in human blood cells in the laboratory, a team led by Dr. Jack T. Stapleton of the University of Iowa found that GBV-C blocked the docking sites on the CD-4 blood cell that H.I.V. needs to enter to cause infection. If further studies show that GBV-C significantly slows the progression of H.I.V., the researchers said a goal might be to identify a protein that could be used to mimic the GBV-C infection to aid H.I.V. patients

In the study, the rate of transmitting H.I.V. was 8.2 per thousand sexual acts in the first five months after a person became infected, and 1.5 per thousand sexual acts in the next year or two, Dr. [Maria J. Wawer] said. The risk then rose sharply, to 4.5 per thousand sexual acts, in the 15 months before death from AIDS. The findings are consistent with what was already understood to be a kind of AIDS cycle: a rise, a dip and then another rise in the amount of H.I.V. in the blood as the infection progresses. Other new data reported at the meeting added to earlier findings suggesting that H.I.V. infections might be on the rise. In part, the concerns reflect outbreaks of syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases that can correlate with a risk of acquiring H.I.V. Such outbreaks have been reported in a number of cities. That as many as 20 percent of H.I.V.-infected people a year in this country spend time in a correctional facility underscores an urgent need for researchers to find ways to reduce the risk of H.I.V. transmission by departing inmates, Dr. [David A. Wohl] said

[Jong Wook Lee] received his medical degree from Seoul National University. He received a master's degree in epidemiology and public health in 1981 from the University of Hawaii School of Public Health, where he focused on leprosy work. After he joined WHO in 1983, Lee investigated leprosy in the South Pacific and worked in the agency's regional office in Manila before moving to the Geneva headquarters in 1994 to direct both its vaccines program and its program to stop tuberculosis. Specialists credited Lee for success in further controlling tuberculosis, in part by forming an alliance among 250 countries and nongovernmental organizations. As director-general, Lee said, a major goal would be to develop programs with a greater scientific basis and more accountability

Dr. Jong Wook Lee, a South Korean expert on tuberculosis and vaccines who trained in the United States, was selected Tuesday to head the World Health Organization. Lee has a reputation for being a skilled administrator and a quick study who has learned the inner workings of WHO, a United Nations subagency in Geneva, in his 19 years there. He was nominated as the organization's new director- general by a vote of the 32 members of the organization that make up its executive board. Final election, which is considered a formality, is expected in May, when the entire membership meets. Lee, 57, is believed to be the first Korean to head an international agency. He was selected over Dr. Peter Piot, a Belgian, who is director of the United Nations AIDS program, on the seventh ballot

Dr. Jong Wook Lee, a South Korean epidemiologist and expert on vaccines, tuberculosis and diseases associated with poverty, was selected yesterday to head the World Health Organization. After he joined the W.H.O. in 1983, Dr. Lee investigated leprosy in the South Pacific and worked in the agency's regional office in Manila before moving to Geneva in 1994 to direct its vaccines program, including the effort to eliminate polio, and its program to stop tuberculosis. Dr. Jong Wook Lee, an expert on vaccines, tuberculosis and diseases associated with poverty, has worked for the W.H.O. for 19 years. (Agence France-Presse)

The aim is to save many of the millions of lives lost each year to malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition and other pressing health problems, Mr. [Gates] said in announcing the grant yesterday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In speaking there, Mr. Gates, the founder of Microsoft, underscored the effects of poor health in stifling the economies of developing countries. In creating the grant, Mr. Gates said he had been inspired by the success of a German, David Hilbert, who challenged his fellow mathematicians in 1900 to solve 23 problems over the next century. Dr. Hilbert's challenge led to mathematical breakthroughs, opened up fields of study and contributed to the development of computers. Mr. Gates said he hoped ''to draw in a lot of talent that hasn't been aware of what could make a huge difference in terms of world health.'' For example, he said, ''even scientists who work in different realms will now see that things like preventing mosquitoes from being a delivery vector'' for diseases like malaria, dengue and West Nile fever ''would be a phenomenal thing.''

The aim is to save many of the millions of lives lost each year to malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition and other pressing health problems, Bill Gates said in announcing the grant yesterday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In speaking there, Gates, the founder of Microsoft, underscored the effects of poor health in stifling the economies of developing countries. Gates said he hoped 'to draw in a lot of talent that hasn't been aware of what could make a huge difference in terms of world health.' For example, he said, 'even scientists who work in different realms will now see that things like preventing mosquitoes from being a delivery vector' for diseases like malaria, dengue and West Nile fever 'would be a phenomenal thing.' 1 PIC; Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said he hopes a $200 million grant will help eliminate many causes of death in poorer nations.; Credit: Michel Euler / Associated Press