Two infectious disease researchers from Papua New Guinea (PNG) dedicated to reducing rates of childhood mortality in their home country are making significant advances thanks to support from the Deborah Lehmann Research Award (DLRA).
Dr Paula Tesine and Dr Alice Mengi from the PNG Institute of Medical Research are the two most recent recipients of the DLRA, which was established in 2019 by the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, based at The Kids Research Institute Australia. Designed to support the training and development of early- to mid-career researchers (EMCR) or higher degree by research (HDR) students in the infectious diseases field, the award provides recipients with up to $30,000 to support their research efforts and undertake professional development opportunities.
Paula received the DLRA in 2021 to further her work investigating the safety and feasibility of providing new mums and their babies with an antimalarial called primaquine within the first seven days of life. Primaquine specifically targets plasmodium vivax, a dormant malaria parasite that hides in the liver and is resistant to most antimalarial treatments. It is one of the only drugs available to eliminate the liver parasites, however it must be given in high doses to be effective and is generally avoided in pregnancy due to health concerns for both the mother and baby. Thanks to the DLRA, Paula has been able to secure funding from the Gates Foundation to lead a study assessing the safety of administering a treatment dose of primaquine to mothers at the health centre when their baby is born to eliminate the liver parasites and improve infant health outcomes within the first six months of life. Recruitment is expected to commence this month. Paula was also recently selected and funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to attend the Australia Awards Research Writing course in Port Moresby.
Also working in the field of malaria, Alice has recruited 1287 pregnant women into a NHMRC-funded clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of the standard three-monthly courses of the antimalarial sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine versus a new combination of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine + dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine. As part of her 2023 DLRA, Alice has been able to follow up the babies participating in the study to look at nutritional outcomes including malnutrition and/or wasting. Over 200 children have now been assessed at 12 months of age, with the hope that 700 babies will be evaluated for the primary nutritional outcome.
Paula and Alice give credit to the DLRA for significantly improving their competitiveness for further awards, PhD scholarships and travel grants, and they are looking forward to sharing their research at this year’s American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in Toronto, Canada.
We would like to thank Dr Brioni Moore, Honorary Research Associate at the Wesfarmers Centre, for her mentorship and guidance of both Paula and Alice in their research projects.
The DLRA acknowledges the significant contribution that Emeritus Clin A/Prof Deborah Lehmann AO has made to paediatric infectious disease research. Eligible applicants must be EMCR or HDR students or who are either nationals from the Pacific Region working in or outside their home countries OR who are First Nations of Australia and/or Aotearoa New Zealand, or from one of the main Pacific ethnic groups in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Applications for this year’s award are open until 1 August – please visit this link for further information