Tuan M. Tran, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, was among 18 early-career physician-scientists selected for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation 2018 Clinical Scientist Development Award. Dr. Tran studies the host response to malaria in children living in sub-Saharan African.
Malaria still remains a global public health threat. The World Health Organization estimates that 216 million cases of malaria occurred globally in 2016, leading to 445,000 deaths, primarily due severe cases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Given this large burden, a highly effective malaria vaccine is urgently needed.
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation CSDA provides each early-career physician-scientist with $495,000 over a three-year period to facilitate the development of an independent clinical research program. Dr. Tran’s project aims to understand protective immunity in Kenyan infants enrolled in a malaria vaccine clinical trial as part of a collaborative effort between Indiana University School of Medicine and researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers of Disease Control.
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. DDCF’s Medical Research Program supports clinical research that advances the translation of biomedical discoveries into new preventions, diagnoses, and treatments for human diseases.
