President-Elect
David Fidock, PhD, FASTMH
Columbia University Irving Medical Center, United States
I am the Hamish CS Young Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Professor of Medical Sciences in the Division of Infectious Diseases, at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. I completed my undergraduate degree at Adelaide University in Australia and obtained a PhD in Microbiology (mentored by Dr. Pierre Druilhe) and a postgraduate Diploma in Medical Entomology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. I then pursued postdoctoral research at the University of California, Irvine, and the NIH in Bethesda (mentored by Drs. Anthony James and Thomas Wellems, respectively). I began my independent group at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2000 and have been at Columbia University since 2007. Honors include awards from the the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation and the Ellison Medical Foundation, and the MMV 2020 Project of the Year. In 2014 received the Bailey K. Ashford Medal and in 2020 the William Trager Award from the ASTMH. In 2023 I was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. I would be honored to apply my long-standing passion for tropical medicine and my deep connection to the ASTMH to serve as its next President. Thank you for your kind attention.
Board Members
Abiola Fasina, MD, MSHP, DTM&H, FASTMH
R-Jolad Hospital/Emergency Healthcare Consultants, Nigeria
I am an emergency and critical care physician and a health policy consultant based in Lagos, Nigeria. I completed my training in emergency medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. After several years of practice, I completed a two-year emergency point-of-care ultrasound fellowship (POCUS) and a Masters in Health Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania. I’m involved in emergency medicine development and POCUS education in Nigeria and practice clinical emergency and critical care medicine. I am a board member and foundational fellow of the Faculty of Emergency Medicine at the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPGMCN) inaugurated in June 2019. I was part of the selected cohort of medical professionals that drafted the national emergency medicine curriculum for future training programmes.
I am also the medical director of R-Jolad Hospital System, Lagos, Nigeria. R-Jolad is one of the largest private hospital systems in Lagos, Nigeria with three sites across the city. It is a multi-specialist hospital providing a range of services with the aim of providing quality at an affordable price. I head the emergency department of the hospital launched in March 2022.
Beth Kirkpatrick, MD, FASTMH
University of Vermont College of Medicine, United States
I am an infectious diseases-trained physician scientist with a long-standing commitment to global health and tropical medicine, and to ASTMH. I completed my internal medicine training at the University of Rochester and performed my Infectious Disease fellowship training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (JHSOM). At JHSOM, I was first exposed to clinical and basic science research; this changed the trajectory of my thus-far clinical career. During my fellowship, I first became a member of ASTMH, which gets credit for kick-starting my research career as well as my interest in clinical tropical medicine. I received an ASTMH Gorgas Institute Memorial Fellowship for my first research project, a field trial on infant cryptosporidiosis in Haiti. I also I participated in the Gorgas course in Clinical Tropical Medicine in Lima, Peru and took the CTropMed® exam while in training. I have remained active in ASTMH since this time.
Presently, I am a clinically active infectious diseases physician, clinical/translational researcher, and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Vermont (UVM) College of Medicine. I founded the UVM Vaccine Testing Center (VTC), here at UVM 21 years ago and have focused most of my research career on the development and study of vaccines to prevent globally-important infectious diseases. Our VTC team of faculty accelerates the development of vaccines through field trials in the US and in Bangladesh (with our colleagues at the icddr,b), including phase I-III clinical trials, observational studies, human experimental challenge models and studies of the human immune response and immune correlates of protection. The team focuses on enteric infections (cholera, campylobacter, rotavirus) and flaviviruses, especially Dengue.
Since 2018, I have led a new NIH-funded center, on Translational Global Infectious Diseases Research (TGIR). This initiative specifically supports the development of the next generation of faculty researchers in the broadly defined field of Global Infectious Disease, which includes the associated issues of antimicrobial resistance, pandemic preparedness, malnutrition, and epidemiologic surveillance. Working to build bridges across disciplines, we have added computational modeling faculty to our breadth of biomedical research. In addition, I engage with the educational curriculum and career development of trainees throughout the continuum- from undergraduate majors to junior faculty, and recognize the importance of introducing students to global health early in their careers. I have a unique platform from which I can encourage physician (and non-physician) scientists to not only participate in research, but to recognize the importance of clinical tropical medicine, epidemiology, environmental science and to purposefully apply the principles of DEI and equity in all they do. In addition to research and clinical expertise, I have a strong background in working on/leading large research and administrative teams.
Board Member Representing Students, Trainees, Residents or Post-docs Candidates
Winter A. Okoth, PhD (Candidate)
Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Australia
I was born and raised in Kisumu, Western Kenya, Africa. Following successful completion of my secondary education at St. Gabriel’s Gagra Mixed Secondary School situated in the remote rural village of Gagra in Siaya County, I proceeded to the U.S. to pursue undergraduate degrees in Biology and Chemistry through the competitive academic scholarship awards from Thomas More University, Kentucky (Class of 2012). Thereafter, I pursued Masters of Science degree in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland (Class of 2017). I am currently completing doctoral degree PhD in Microbiology at Griffith University, Australia (2019-2023) (Dissertation submitted 2023).
Having experienced the devastating impacts of malaria, I developed a passion for science to better understand infectious diseases such as malaria, and partake in research and development of effective therapeutics. My passion for science began in high school where I served as a school prefect and science club chair. My first exposure to biomedical research was at Mayo Clinic Graduate School through the immunology summer undergraduate research fellowships where I participated in allergic diseases and protein misfolding research. These experiences heightened my interest in furthering my education in public health by engaging in medical research. My thesis research project at Johns Hopkins University was my debut in malaria research where I assessed the pharmacodynamics of antimalarial drugs. This work was published in Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy Journal (2018).
Thereafter, I actively partook in malaria pathogenesis and immunology research projects at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration through the ORISE research fellowships and achieved three co-authorships (2017-2019). All these experiences and more fueled my passion and desire to further participate in malaria research with a focus on malaria immunology and vaccine development.
I’m currently completing my PhD degree in Microbiology at the Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University (2019-2023). My dissertation research project focused on the development and pre-clinical evaluation of whole blood-stage malaria vaccine using cationic liposomes.
Some of the awards recently achieved include: 2022 Australian Academy of Technological Sciences IMNIS Ambassador, Glycomics Student Forum 2022 (best poster presentation), 9th Australasian Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics Development Meeting AVID 2022 International Conference (best early career researcher award), competitive 2022 ASTMH Travel Award recipient, and Griffith University International Postgraduate Research Scholarship awards. Former ORISE research fellow (2017-2019), American Association of University Women (AAUW) International fellow (2015-2016), and Emergent BioSolutions fellowship awardee (2016).
I’m passionately engaged in the fight against malaria through research, policy and advocacy besides active involvement in the community through leadership, volunteering, teaching and mentoring platforms. I have served and continue to serve in various leadership capacities: Wonder of Science Young Science Ambassador Queensland; Griffith University STEM Squad Ambassador; founder and mentor at Pamoja Kenya Mentorship Alliance organization that facilitates constructive mentorship and skills development program for high school and university students in Kenya; avid ASTMH ambassador and committee member; a devoted malaria champion at United Nations Foundation United to Beat Malaria (formerly known as Nothing but Nets) advocacy; malaria champion and youth workstream founding co-lead at RBM Partnerships to End Malaria where I get the opportunity to co-lead, collaborate with, brainstorm and execute advocacy ideas with other malaria champions across the world who are actively involved in the fight against malaria. I intend to continue giving back to the Society at large through research, leadership, teaching, mentoring, policy, advocacy, and empowerment.