MMV congratulates Professor David Fidock, new President-Elect of ASTMH

MMV is delighted to hear of Dr. David Fidock’s selection as President-Elect of The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH).

Currently, Dr. Fidock is the Hamish CS Young Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Professor of Medical Sciences in the Division of Infectious Diseases, at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York. He has garnered many scientific honors and awards over the years, including the 2016 Advance Global Australian of the Year Award in Life Sciences for his contribution to malaria research. Other honors include his election as Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2023. He will serve as President of the ASTMH from 2024.

Dr. Fidock’s abiding interest in tropical diseases and malaria has made him an important science partner for MMV. In 2020, the discovery project team working on dissecting mechanisms of resistance to antimalarials and led by Dr. Fidock, and MMV’s Dr. Didier Leroy, received the 2020 Project of the Year award.

“ASTMH couldn’t have chosen a more-deserving President-Elect,” said Didier Leroy. “It has been an honour to work with Dr. Fidock and his team on malaria drug resistance profiling project over the past 10 years. We have studied the potential of over 240 antimalarial compounds to select for resistance and have characterized such resistance before progressing to human studies. The work of the team has contributed to the discovery of 18 new modes of action and resistance as well as advanced our knowledge of the resistance mechanisms of key antimalarials such as chloroquine, piperaquine and artemisinin.” 

MMV wishes Professor Fidock continued success, at ASTMH and beyond, and counts on his sustained advocacy for antimalarial R&D.