Louise Ivers | |
---|---|
Born | Dublin, Ireland |
Academic background | |
Education | MD, University College Dublin DTM&H, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine MPH, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School |
Louise Catherine Ivers is an Irish-American infectious disease specialist. She is the executive director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. During the 2010s Haiti cholera outbreak,Ivers led a major humanitarian and public health response,resulting in increased access to HIV and TB treatment,and served as a technical advisor to the World Health Organization.
Ivers was born and raised in Dublin,Ireland,as the middle of three children. [1] She remained in her home country for her medical degree at University College Dublin (UCD) and a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene from the London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine,before travelling to the United States for her residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital,a fellowship in infectious diseases at Harvard University,and Master's Degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. [2]
Ivers joined the non-profit organization,Partners In Health (PIH) in 2003 as a clinical director as it began its collaboration with the Haitian government. She helped expand the organizations reach across Haiti from a three-room clinic to several new buildings including a clinic that contains examining rooms,a laboratory,a pharmacy,a small inpatient ward,and isolation rooms for TB patients. [1] During her time in Haiti,the country suffered a cholera outbreak and earthquake. [3] [4] Following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti,she was appointed Chief of Mission for PIH and subsequently led a major humanitarian and public health response,resulting in increased access to HIV and TB treatment. [5] In recognition of her efforts in Haiti,Ivers was honored as the 2011 Distinguished Graduate for UCD [5] and the recipient of the Bailey K. Ashford Medal from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. [6] Ivers later published a paper in 2015 showing that PIH's intervention and vaccine distribution slowed the spread of cholera in villages north of Saint-Marc. [7] From 2015 until 2017,she was a member of the executive leadership team at PIH responsible for global strategic implementation and served as a technical advisor to the World Health Organization and the Haitian Ministry of Health. [8]
In 2019,Ivers was elected a Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation [9] and was the recipient of the Leadership In Public Health Practice Award. [10] During the COVID-19 pandemic,Ivers and Wilfredo Matias published an op-ed "calling out fundamental weaknesses in the country's public health data systems,which are unable to capture accurate data on where,why and how the virus spreads in real time." [11] She later urged the Governor of Massachusetts,Charlie Baker,to speed up the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations. [12]
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Symptoms may range from none,to mild,to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and muscle cramps may also occur. Diarrhea can be so severe that it leads within hours to severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. This may result in sunken eyes,cold skin,decreased skin elasticity,and wrinkling of the hands and feet. Dehydration can cause the skin to turn bluish. Symptoms start two hours to five days after exposure.
Vanessa Bradford Kerry is an American physician,public health expert,and doctor. She is a founder of the non-profit Seed Global Health. Her father is John Kerry,who served as the 68th United States Secretary of State.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury,central London,and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine.
Tropical medicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that deals with health issues that occur uniquely,are more widespread,or are more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions.
Paul Edward Farmer was an American medical anthropologist and physician. Farmer held an MD and PhD from Harvard University,where he was a University Professor and the chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was the co-founder and chief strategist of Partners In Health (PIH),an international non-profit organization that since 1987 has provided direct health care services and undertaken research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. He was professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Partners In Health (PIH) is an international nonprofit public health organization founded in 1987 by Paul Farmer,Ophelia Dahl,Thomas J. White,Todd McCormack,and Jim Yong Kim.
Jim Yong Kim,also known as Kim Yong (김용/金墉),is an American physician and anthropologist who served as the 12th president of the World Bank from 2012 to 2019.
Ophelia Magdalena Dahl is a British-American social justice and health care advocate. Dahl co-founded Partners In Health (PIH),a Boston,Massachusetts-based non-profit health care organization dedicated to providing a "preferential option for the poor." She served as executive director for 16 years and has since chaired its board of directors.
Joia Stapleton Mukherjee is an associate professor with the Division of Global Health Equity at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Since 2000,she has served as the Chief Medical Officer of Partners In Health,an international medical non-profit founded by Paul Farmer,Ophelia Dahl,and Jim Kim. She trained in Infectious Disease,Internal Medicine,and Pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and has an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Mukherjee has been involved in health care access and human rights issues since 1989,and she consults for the World Health Organization on the treatment of HIV and MDR-TB in developing countries. Her scholarly work focuses on the human rights aspect of HIV treatment and on the implementation of complex health interventions in resource-poor settings.
Peter Jay Hotez is an American scientist,pediatrician,and advocate in the fields of global health,vaccinology,and neglected tropical disease control. He serves as founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine,Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology &Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine,where he is also Director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Texas Children's Hospital Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics,and University Professor of Biology at Baylor College of Medicine. Hotez served previously as president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and is a founding Editor-in-Chief of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. He is also the co-director of Parasites Without Borders,a global nonprofit organization with a focus on those suffering from parasitic diseases in subtropical environments.
The 2010s Haiti cholera outbreak was the first modern large-scale outbreak of cholera—a disease once considered beaten back largely due to the invention of modern sanitation. The disease was reintroduced to Haiti in October 2010,not long after the disastrous earthquake earlier that year,and since then cholera has spread across the country and become endemic,causing high levels of both morbidity and mortality. Nearly 800,000 Haitians have been infected by cholera,and more than 9,000 have died,according to the United Nations (UN). Cholera transmission in Haiti today is largely a function of eradication efforts including WASH,education,oral vaccination,and climate variability. Early efforts were made to cover up the source of the epidemic,but thanks largely to the investigations of journalist Jonathan M. Katz and epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux,it is widely believed to be the result of contamination by infected United Nations peacekeepers deployed from Nepal. In terms of total infections,the outbreak has since been surpassed by the war-fueled 2016–2021 Yemen cholera outbreak,although the Haiti outbreak is still one of the most deadly modern outbreaks. After a three-year hiatus,new cholera cases reappeared in October 2022.
Edward Thomas Ryan is an American microbiologist,immunologist,and physician at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital. Ryan served as president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from 2009 to 2010. Ryan is Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health,Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School,and Director of Global Infectious Diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Ryan's research and clinical focus has been on infectious diseases associated with residing in,immigrating from,or traveling through resource-limited areas. Ryan is a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology,the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,the American College of Physicians,and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
John Brownstein is a Canadian epidemiologist and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School as well as the Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital. His research focuses on development of computational methods in epidemiology for applications to public health also known as computational epidemiology or e-epidemiology He is also the founder of several global public health surveillance systems including HealthMap. He is most known for his work on global tracking of disease outbreaks.
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Michelle Evelyn Morse is an American internist. She is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-founded EqualHealth and Social Medicine Consortium. In 2021,Morse was named the first Chief Medical Officer of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
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