Posted: 6/28/2011
The American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association (ASTDA) will present Johns Hopkins professor Thomas C. Quinn, MD, MSc, with the Thomas Parran Award for his distinguished and continued contributions to the field of STD research at its International Society for STD Researchers conference in Quebec City, Canada on July 13.
Quinn, who holds a joint appointment with Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, is the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health and Professor of Medicine, Pathology, International Health, Epidemiology, and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins University. He notes, “It is an honor to be recognized with my fellow STD researchers in this ever-evolving field. We’ve made significant progress in our understanding of HIV/STDs, but there is still much to be done.”
Quinn’s research has involved investigations on the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and clinical features of HIV/AIDS in over 26 countries. His initial investigations documented the importance of STDs in facilitating the sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS both domestically and internationally. He demonstrated the unique importance of viral kinetics in the transmission of HIV perinatally and among discordant couples, with the subsequent design and application of interventions, including male circumcision and antiretroviral therapy, to prevent transmission of HIV. Through viral sequencing he has mapped the molecular evolution of the HIV epidemic on a global basis, linking virologic changes to the spread of HIV and demonstrating the inherent pathogenesis of various HIV subtypes. Quinn has been committed to the implementation of clinical care programs for HIV and STDs in developing countries and was a co-founder of the Academic Alliance for AIDS Care and Prevention in Africa.
In addition to his appointments at Hopkins, Quinn serves as Senior Investigator and Head of the Section on International HIV/STD Research, and Associate Director for International Research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
About the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health
The Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health was founded in 2006 to help coordinate, facilitate and focus the extensive expertise and resources of the Johns Hopkins University, together with its global collaborators, to effectively address and ameliorate the world’s most pressing health issues, including HIV/AIDS, STDs, malaria, tuberculosis, malnutrition, hepatitis and other threats to health. Currently over 380 faculty members are involved in 728 health related projects in 117 countries. For more information, see www.hopkinsglobalhealth.org