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| NAME | MISSION | STRATEGIES | U.S.A.Manoa Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases (APITMID) Duane J. Gubler, ScD
Director, Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases
Professor & Chair, Department of Tropical Medicine and Medical Microbiology
John A. Burns School of Medicine
University of Hawaii at Manoa
651 Ilalo Street, BSB 3rd Floor
Honolulu, HI 96813
Tel: (808) 692-1606
FAX: (808) 732-1483
e-mail: dgubler@hawaii.edu | To
develop a balanced, transdisciplinary research program that focuses on
basic, translational, and field research on microbial diseases of
public health importance in the Asia-Pacific region.
Collectively,
past and current research and training programs in tropical medicine,
public health, microbiology and immunology at the University of Hawaii
at Manoa provide a unique platform on which to build a world-class
institute for tropical medicine and infectious diseases that focuses
specifically on the Asia-Pacific region. Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases (APITMID),
will work to meet the growing challenge of understanding, preventing
and controlling the dramatic global re-emergence of infectious diseases
in the Asia-Pacific region.
During
the past 25 years, infectious diseases have once again regained their
position as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The
developing countries of the tropical Asia-Pacific region have been
among those geographic areas hardest hit by this resurgence. Thus,
infectious diseases are among the most important public health and
economic problems facing the Asian-Pacific region at the beginning of
the new millennium. In particular, “old diseases”, such as
dengue/dengue hemorrhagic fever, epidemic polyarthritis, Japanese
encephalitis, malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, plague and influenza,
have repeatedly caused major epidemics in the region, and have severely
taxed the public health infrastructure and the economies in many of
these countries. In addition, the emergence of newly recognized
pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus, Nipah virus, Hendra
virus, SARS corona virus and avian influenza virus, all of which are
zoonotic viruses that have “jumped species”, have caused major
epidemics in recent years that have resulted in significant loss of
human lives and devastating economic consequences worldwide.
The
myriad factors responsible for this alarming global re-emergence of
infectious diseases are not fully understood, but it is clear that
global demographic and societal changes have been primarily
contributory. The unprecedented population growth since World War II
has been one of the principal driving forces behind the uncontrolled
urbanization and human migration patterns. This, combined with the
rapid and massive movement of people, animals (with their endo-and
ecto-parasites) and commodities via jet air travel and other modes of
modern transportation, along with the insidious breakdown of the public
health infrastructure to deal with infectious diseases, and the
long-held emphasis on curative rather than preventive medicine, have
all contributed to the resurgence of infectious diseases.
All
of the global public health emergencies in the past 10 years, have
originated in Asia, i.e., plague in India, 1994; Hong Kong Flu, 1997;
Nipah encephalitis, 1999; SARS, 2003; and avian influenza, 2004. This
trend makes it imperative that programs be established to monitor
infectious diseases in this region using the most modern laboratory and
epidemiologic technology. By virtue of its strategic geographic
location as the gateway to/from Asia and the Pacific Islands, and its
strong ties to resource-poor developing countries in that region, the
University of Hawaii at Manoa is in a position to rapidly develop the
capacity to fill this niche. That is, the University of Hawaii at Manoa
has a long history of training students and public health officers from
Asia and the Pacific in medicine and public health; many of these
former graduates are now in high-level administrative positions in
ministries of health and/or in upper level professorial positions at
universities throughout Asia. In addition, the University of Hawaii at
Manoa has close cultural ties to Asia and the Pacific, and over the
years, has developed close working relationships and strong
partnerships based on mutual trust, with institutions in the region.
Finally, the East-West Center provides an expanded dimension to these
ties with Asia | The Asia-Pacific Institute is being developed in several phases.
Phase I
This
phase will focus on developing partnerships, recruiting faculty and
staff, establishing priority research areas and obtaining funding. The
Institute will be staffed by existing UH faculty and new hires that
will be brought in over a period of 5 years. Administratively, APITMID
is located in the medical school, but staff will represent a number of
other administrative units within and from outside the University.
These include:
University of Hawaii at Manoa
John A. Burns School of Medicine
Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology
Department of Public Health Sciences and Epidemiology
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
Department of Medicine
Department of Pediatrics
Pacific Biomedical Research Center
Cancer Research Center of Hawaii
College of Natural Sciences
College of Social Sciences
College of Engineering
School of Ocean and Earth Science Technology
State Department of Health
Division of Disease Outbreak Control
Division of Communicable Diseases
State Division of Laboratories
East-West Center
Hawaii Biotech, Inc.
Maui High-Performance Computing Center
Department of Defense
U.S. Pacific Command
Tripler Army Medical Center
U.S. Navy Preventive Medicine Unit No. 6
Involvement
of programs and individuals from the above organizations are based on
interest and expertise; selected individuals with specific expertise
within the local research community will be actively recruited to join
the new Institute.
International
partners will include U.S. Government laboratories in Thailand and
Indonesia, and institutions in Viet Nam, and other selected countries
in the Asia-Pacific Region.
A
major partner in this initiative is the State of Hawaii, which has
completed building a $150 million medical school campus at Kaka`ako.
APITMID occupies the third floor of the biosciences research building,
approximately 41,000 square feet of state-of-the art laboratory and
animal space.
Six
centers constitute the initial anchors for the APITMID programs. The
Pacific Center for AIDS Research is Directed by Dr. Cecilia Shikuma,
and is already well funded, and includes the Hawaii AIDS Clinical Trial
Unit, and the University of Hawaii NeuroAIDS Specialized Neuroscience
Research Program. Funding for these programs and other AIDS-related
research projects already exceed $4.5 million per year in direct costs.
The
Pacific Center for Emerging Infectious Disease Research, directed by
Dr. Richard Yanagihara, has recently received a $9.6 million COBRE
grant from NIH. The Asia-Pacific Center for Infectious Disease Ecology
Research, directed by Dr. Bruce Wilcox and the Asia-Pacific Center for
Biosecurity, Disater and Conflict Research, directed by Dr. Fredrick
Burkle have only recently been formed. Funding proposals for these two
centers are in progress.
Phase II
The
emphasis in Phase II will be to develop basic and applied research
programs for each of the initial anchor centers. Simultaneously, the
Department of Tropical Medicine and Medical Microbiology graduate
program will be expanded and improved to attract highly motivated,
research-oriented doctoral degree candidates to participate in the
research conducted by Institute scientists. In addition, field sites in
Asia and the Pacific will be identified to conduct field research, and
to train students and faculty, as well as for product testing and
evaluation. These field sites will be instrumental in attracting
partnerships with other universities and with private industry to test
and evaluate newly developed biomedical products. |
| FAULTY MEMBER | PROGRAMS | | ALIMINETI, Kavitha B.Tech, MSARAI, Satoru PhDBENNETT, Shannon PhDBERESTECKY, John M. PhDBERG, John T. PhDBESSINGER, Glenn PhDBESSINGER, Ruth PhDBirth-Melander, Pollie PhDBOMGAARS, Mona R. MDBURKLE, Jr. Frederick M. MD, MPHCHANG, Sandra PhDCOLLIER, Abby C. PhDCROPP, C. Bruce MSDIWAN, Arwind PhDEFFLER, Paul MD, MPHEFIRD, Jimmy Thomas PhDERDEM, Guliz MDFURUSAWA, Eiichi MD, PhDGOSNELL, William PhDGUBLER, Duane J. ScDHiratsuka, NatalieHong, Mi-Kyung, MPH HUI, George S.N. PhDIMRIE, Allison PhDJOURDAN-LE SAUX, ClaudeKANESHIRO, Kenneth Y. PhDKAPAN, Durrell PhDKAUFUSI, Pakieli H. PhDKIM, Anne PhDKIM, Jerome MDKIMATA, Chieko RN, MPHKRAMER, Kenton PhDLEWIS, Michael PhDLU, Yuanan, PhDLUM, Bert MD, PhDMADDOCK, Jay PhDMELISH, Marian E. MDMILLER, F. DeWolfe MPH, PhDMIYAHARA, James PhDMOCZ, Gabor PhDNERURKAR, Vivek PhDOchner, Margaret MPHPIEN, Frank D. MDRATTO-KIM, Silvia PhDREAD, George PhDRUDOY, Raul C. MDSHIKUMA, Cecilia MDSHIRAMIZU, BruceSONG, Jin-Won MD PhDTAM, Elizabeth K. MDTAM, Leslie PhDTAYLOR, Diane PhDTICE, D. Alan MD, FACP VERMA, Saguna PhDWATANABE, Cori MBAWILCOX, Bruce PhDYAMADA, Seiji MD, MPHYAMAGA, Karen PhDYANAGIHARA, Richard MD, MPH YOUNG LESLIE, Heather PhD | The Asia-Pacific Institute consists of the following centers and core programs.
Pacific Center for AIDS Research focuses on clinical trials to evaluate new drugs and vaccines, with laboratory and field research in Hawaii and Thailand.
( Director, Dr. Cecilia Shikuma)
Pacific Center for Emerging Infectious Disease Research involves
basic laboratory research in Hawaii combined with field epidemiologic
research in Vietnam and Thailand, initially, and in other countries in
the future.
(Director, Dr. Richard Yanagihara)
Asia-Pacific Center for Infectious Disease Ecology focuses
on disease ecology, and integrative research addressing the
interactions between social and ecological factors, including the
relationship of anthropogenic environmental change, climate
variability, and other environmental as well as human factors
influencing pathogen transmission and evolution.
(Director, Dr. Bruce Wilcox)
Asia-Pacific Center for Biosecurity, Disaster and Conflict Research focuses
on partnering with the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security,
the Hawaii Department of Health, and other agencies to develop
laboratory and field research on bioterrorism, disaster management and
related topics.
(Director, Dr. Frederick Burkle )
APITMID Research Core
Director, Dr. Jimmy Thomas Efird
Associate Director, Dr. Pollie Bith-Melander
Medical Statistics and Infectious Diseases Modeling Unit (RCMI) provides
assistance to APITMID researchers in 1) study development and
implementation (e.g., research design, protocol development, sample
size and power calculations, questionnaire construction, randomization,
organization of data safety and monitoring boards), 2) statistical
analysis (e.g., basic inferential statistics, multivariate analysis,
binary and Poisson regression models, time-to-event models,
non-parametric methods, group sequential boundary points, permutation
based micro-array analysis), and 3) infectious diseases modeling (e.g.,
disease transmission models, vaccine efficacy models, vector control
models).
(Head, Dr. Jimmy Thomas Efird)
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Unit (COBRE) supports
molecular genetic and bioinformatics research on microbial disease
agents, with services from primer design, to phylogenetic analysis
(e.g., migration, selection, and recombination) and protein structural
prediction. Analyses also include quantitative genetics modeling (e.g.,
linkage analysis, segregation analysis, identity-by-descent, additive
polygenic models, linkage disequilibrium, and haplotype phase
prediction and inference).
(Head, Dr. Shannon Bennett)
Applications Programming and Systems Development Unit provides
systems programming, database design/management and computerized
graphics services to APITMID researchers including development of
computerized data entry screens, programming of cross-validated fields,
edit checks, SAS programming, software installation and customized
systems development.
(Manager, Kavitha Alimineti)
Medical Anthropology and Outcomes Evaluation Unit provides
advice to APITMID staff in the cultural and ethnographic aspects of
research study design and health outcomes evaluation.
(Head, Dr. Heather Young Leslie)
Applied Evolutionary Ecology and Population Genetics Unit models
the complex interactions between organismal phenotype, ecology and
genetics results in the evolution of emerging infectious diseases,
invasive species and tropical biodiversity.
(Head, Dr. Durrell Kapan ) Imaging and Multimedia Science Unit provides imaging and multimedia database for the future education and technology.
(Head, Chieko Kimata ) APITMID Medical Sciences
Director, Dr. Diane Taylor
Parasitology Program draws
on techniques from the fields of cell biology, bioinformatics,
molecular biology, immunology, genetics and ecology to study parasites
which infect humans and the relationship between them.. These include
unicellular organisms such as Plasmodium spp., the organism which causes malaria, Leishmania donovani, the organism which causes leishmaniasis and multicellular organisms such as Schistosoma spp., Wuchereria bancrotti and Necator americanus.
(Head, Dr. George Hui)
Pharmacology program investigates
the actions of drugs and chemicals on cells, tissues and the whole
body. We research how drugs produce both beneficial and adverse effects
including improving the way drugs are tested to give greater benefit in
the treatment of disease. The cellular and chemical characteristics of
diseases, syndromes and conditions are studied so that molecules may be
designed specifically to alter or enhance these characteristics. The
study of pharmacology requires understanding normal body functions
(anatomy, biochemistry and physiology) and the disturbances that occur
as well as an appreciation of the chemistry of compounds. Within the
broader field of Pharmacology the lab focuses on two main areas: 1)
metabolism and Pharmacokinetics and 2) reproductive pharmacology and
toxicology.
(Head, Dr. Abby Collier )
Immunology Program studies
the structure and function of the immune system, innate and acquired
immunity, the bodily distinction of self from nonself, and laboratory
techniques involving the interaction of antigens with specific
antibodies.
(Head, Dr. Allison Imrie )
Molecular Biology Program studies
the molecular basis of life processes, including cellular respiration,
excretion, and reproduction. It deals specifically with the formation,
structure, and function of macromolecules essential to life, such as
nucleic acids and proteins, and especially with their role in cell
replication, the transmission of genetic information, and the
manipulation of DNA so that it can be sequenced or mutated.
(Head, Dr. Sandra Chang )
Microbiology Program studies microorganisms including eukaryotes such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes such as bacteria, protozoa and viruses.
(Head, Dr. Karen Yamaga )
Virology Program studies
biological viruses, their structure and classification, their ways to
infect and exploit cells to reproduce and cause disease, the techniques
to isolate and culture them, and their potential uses in research and
therapy.
(Head, TBA ) |
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