Alumni Division Announcements

Gary Weil, MD, receives a $2.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Infectious disease specialist Gary Weil, MD, at the School of Medicine, has received a $2.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lead a clinical trial in eastern Ghana to evaluate a triple drug combination for treating onchocerchiasis, a parasitic worm disease also called river blindness. The researchers want to determine whether timing of giving the drug combination is more effective than the standard treatment in killing the worms, which infect the eyes and can lead to vision problems and blindness if left untreated.

Prior studies conducted by DOLF (Death to Onchocerciasis and Lymphatic Filariasis) have shown that this combination is safe and effective for treatment of lymphatic filariasis (also known as “Elephantiasis”). This disease is caused by a worm parasite W. bancrofti which is closely related to the worm O. volvulus that causes onchocerciasis.