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Myron Essex

Myron Essex Myron Essex

Chair, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health AIDS Initiative Chair
Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership

 
Biography

Essex earned his DVM from Michigan State University in 1967. He earned his Ph.D. from University of California, Davis, in 1970. Essex holds nine honorary doctorates and has received numerous awards, including the Lasker Award, the highest medical research award given in the United States, jointly with Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier in 1986. He has published over 500 papers and 11 books, including two editions of AIDS in Africa, and his latest, Saturday Is for Funerals.

 
Research Interest

Area of research is the possible role of human genetics in increasing or decreasing risk of HIV infection and rate of AIDS progression once infected. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified in association with HIV risk are then analyzed for genetic loci and functional properties to see how the information may be used to develop new drugs or vaccine approaches. Although such studies had been done earlier in Western populations, it seems clear that human genomes may have substantial differences in southern Africa and the HIV-1C virus has substantial differences from HIV-1B, the virus most commonly studied in the U.S. and Europe.

Global Experts in the subject
Adriana Campa Ahmed Haque Bhopesh Thakur
Bruce Davies Carlos J. Rubinstein Deena J Tampi
Dikotlana Study Team Glennon W Simmons Herman Bussmann
J Bryan Page Jenna D. Moore-Liester John T McDevitt
Jorge Wong Joseph Makhema Julien S. Baker
L Cecil Powell Lesedi Tsalaile Manju Kaundal
Marianna K Baum Michael P McRae Michael R. Graham
Mitchell B Liester Moyo Sikhulele Nicolaos Christodoulides
O’Dale Williams Patricia Burns R Constance Wiener
Rajesh R Tampi Rhonda Conerly Holliday Richard De La Garzall
Richard Marlink Sabrina Sales Martinez Shenghan Lai
Silpa Chandran Silvia Fare Sujan Barua
Thomas F Newton Thomas R. Kosten Torrance Stephens
Yinghui Li Erik van Widenfelt