Our Alumni in the News

UW Medicine has featured the cancer research of MSTP alumni Colin Pritchard (entered ’98, graduated ’07) and Heather Cheng (entered ’98, graduated ’07) through the story of the Mallard family. Their research on how hereditary cancers are passed down and treated is continuing to improve the lives of families just like the Mallards.

UW MSTP alumni Dr. Jared Baeten (entered ’95, graduated ’03) was awarded the 2013 ASPPH/ Pfizer Young Investigator Research Award. Dr. Baeten has achieved international recognition for his contributions to HIV epidemiology and prevention. In 2012, he was first author on a New England Journal of Medicine, summarizing the efficacy results from the Partners PrEP Study, a phase III, randomized double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel-arm clinical trial of tenofovir (TDF) and emtricitabine/tenofovir (FTC/TDF) pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention. The findings of the Partners PrEP Study were a major component of a submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a prevention indication for branded Truvada® (FTC/TDF, made by Gilead Sciences) which was approved in July 2012, the first medication approved for HIV prevention. Dr. Baeten is the current chair of an ongoing, multisite phase III trial of dapivirine vaginal ring for HIV prevention in women (MTN-020/ASPIRE). Other work includes implementation studies of combination HIV prevention in Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda, epidemiologic studies exploring the effects of hormonal contraceptive use on HIV risk, behavioral science to understand uptake and utilization of HIV prevention, and collaborative work to explore virologic and immunologic factors related to HIV transmission risk.

UW MSTP alumni Dr. Catherine Blish (entered ’93, graduated ’01) and Dr. Adam Lauring (entered ’94, graduated ’02 ) were awarded Doris Duke Foundation 2013 Clinical Scientist Development Awards of $486,000 each over three years. A total of 16 physician-scientists were awardees this year. Both Blish and Lauring were trainees under MSTP Associate Director Dr. Julie Overbaugh.

For archived alumni news, please visit the Alumni News Archives.