Halea Kayla Hudson
Kayla is a second-year medical student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. she is from West Liberty, Ohio and completed her undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University, earning a certification in Medical Laboratory Science. In high school, she was an exchange student in Belgium and developed a desire to learn more about other cultures. This has since evolved into a passion for global health. Specifically, she is intrigued by exploring the role of a person’s environment in influencing their health, how this compares in different systems around the world, and how it changes in situations of migration or displacement. At Case, she is part of the World Medicine Pathway and is currently involved as a mentor with immigrant and refugee children at Re:Source Cleveland, as well as coordinating medical evaluations for asylum-seekers via Case Western Human Rights Initiative. Combining this with a background in immunology that was fostered through pancreatic cancer research as an undergraduate student has led Kayla to a strong interest in infectious disease, which has further expanded thanks to the Kean Fellowship. Outside of medicine, she enjoys hiking, reading, learning languages and exploring new places.
Impact of host inflammation on Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte sex ratio in school-age children with subclinical malaria
Kenya Medical Research Institute
Kisumu, Kenya
What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
For me, the Kean Fellowship is a huge opportunity to expand my understanding of what it means to contribute to global health research, including the rewards and challenges of such experience. It is the chance to build a network of connections among other professionals with a variety of career paths who are each involved in enhancing knowledge and healthcare within tropical medicine on local and global scales. Thanks to this funding, I have met people and gained experiences that I believe have altered the course of my professional journey.
What do you anticipate learning?
This ASTMH-funded research experience will be a learning opportunity from multiple angles. The focus of my research project involves investigating the role of the host immune system in affecting the sex ratio of male-to-female malarial gametocytes, which is one of the factors influencing the parasite’s transmission. More specifically, I will be looking at these variables within a population of school-age children with subclinical malaria in western Kenya. This is considered a significant reservoir for the continued maintenance of Plasmodium falciparum malaria as an endemic disease in that region. Beyond learning more about how these factors contribute to malarial endemicity, though, I also anticipate learning a lot more about the healthcare system in Kenya thanks to connections allowing me to shadow in local regional and county hospitals in the area. Additionally, I am looking forward to the cultural exchange of connecting with my lab mates, learning some phrases in Swahili and Luo, and living life as part of a new community.
What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?
One of the aspects of tropical medicine that interests me most is the unique challenge of dealing with environmentally dependent infectious pathogens in settings where resources to manage resulting illnesses may be limited or difficult to access. Often, there are many strategies that can help to limit the transmission of such infections, but these methods may be underutilized or less effective for a variety of reasons. Broadly, I am interested in identifying root causes for why existing transmission prevention strategies are not optimally effective, and in working to adjust, develop and implement solutions to help reduce the burden of infectious diseases overall.