News & Events

You can read Vaidehi Nafade, Paulami Sen and colleagues’ paper “The value of diagnostic imaging for enhancing primary care in low- and middle-income countries” published in eClinicalMedicine.

Congratulations to all the authors – including many alumni from the Pai Global TB Group – on their paper “Building social equity and person-centred innovation into the end TB response” published in The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

Read the latest paper from Madhukar Pai, Shashika Bandara and Catherine Kyobutungi published in The Lancet, titled “Shifting power in global health will require leadership by the Global South and allyship by the Global North“.

You can read the latest paper from the COVET team “The shifting landscape of private healthcare providers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons to strengthen the private sectors engagement for future pandemic and tuberculosis care” published in PLoS Global Public Health.

We’d like to welcome Dr. Shashika Bandara, who is joining our team as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Shashika’s PhD was focused on global health governance, and he will work on our project commissioned by the O’Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination and Global Health. Find out more about Shashika on our team’s page.

Congratulations to Ashlyn Beecroft on her paper “Digital HIV self-testing as an exemplar: a perspective on benefits, challenges, and opportunities” published in Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics.

You can read Lena Faust’s latest paper “Case fatality among people with drug-susceptible TB enrolled in a private health sector TB treatment support program in Bihar, India during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic” published in PLoS Global Public Health, with Sophie Huddart and Madhukar Pai among the co-authors.

The entire team wishes all the best to Joel, who is taking a new position at the Ottawa Public Health department! We’re all grateful for his instrumental contributions to the TBPPM Learning Network.

A warm welcome to Jeyashree Kathiresan, a physician from India who is starting an MSc in epidemiology! We are also welcoming Jacquelyn Yushkov, who is joining the team working on a series of systematic reviews on sputum expectoration, Samantha Ayoub, joining the TBPPM project, and Esme Longley, who will be working on TB global health projects. Welcome!

Many alumni are also starting new degrees:

• Maddee Nash: medical school at Queen’s University
• Jacob Bigio: PhD in epidemiology at McGill University
• Rishav Das: PhD in health policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago
• Angie Sassi: PhD in global health implementation science at UW
• Tripti Pande: DrPH at UNC Chapel Hill

Congratulations!

Read Madhukar Pai, Poshan Thapa and colleagues’ new comment paper “Tackling antimicrobial resistance: recognising the proposed five blind spots can accelerate progress” published in The Lancet Microbe.

Read the latest opinion piece from Ifedayo MO Adetifa and Madhukar Pai “Mpox outbreaks in Africa—we must avert another failure of global solidarity” published in BMJ.

Congratulations to everyone (many current and former members of the Pai Global TB Group) who contributed to the WHO’s latest “Target product profiles for tuberculosis diagnosis and detection of drug resistance“.

You can read Madhukar Pai and Seye Abimbola’s latest editorial “Science should save all, not just some” published in Science.

Read Madhukar Pai’s blog post “Visa-friendly venues for global health meetings” in Springer Nature for an overview of the problem, and tools and resources to lessen its impact.

You can read the latest paper from Alexandra Zimmer and colleagues “Incidence of cough from acute exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Madagascar: A pilot study” published in PLoS Global Public Health.

Read Madhukar Pai and colleagues’ new paper “Diagnostic yield as an important metric for the evaluation of novel tuberculosis tests: rationale and guidance for future research” published in The Lancet Global Health.

Read Madhukar Pai and colleagues’ new paper “Barriers to engagement in the care cascade for tuberculosis disease in India: A systematic review of quantitative studies” published in PLoS Medicine.

A warm welcome to Zarin Abdullah, who is joining Surbhi on the exemplars and innovations in global health diagnostics project, and Ashlyn on the series of systematic reviews on sputum expectoration proportion project!

Read Madhukar Pai’s piece “Public Health Professionals Must Engage The Public. Communications Training Is Key” in Forbes.

Jacob was awarded a CIHR doctoral fellowship, and Poshan won a FRQS postdoctoral fellowship – congratulations to both!

Congratulations to alumni Andy McDowell on publishing his book “Breathless – Tuberculosis, Inequality, and Care in Rural India“!

Congratulations to Luz on winning a 2024 Global Health Scholars Graduate award!

You can read Lena Faust and colleagues’ new paper “Tuberculosis case notifications and outcomes in Peruvian prisons prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national-level interrupted time series analysis” published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, which was part of her PhD thesis.

Congratulations to Madlen Nash and Petra Heitkamp for working on the 1/4/6×24 campaign report “Getting Better Faster: Delivering on the Promise of New TB Treatments“!

Congratulations to Anita for winning the Jonathan Meakins Prize for best paper in clinical and outcomes research, as part of the McGill International TB Centre Research Day! Read her winning paper here.

You can read Madhukar Pai and colleagues’ latest review article “Drug-resistant tuberculosis:a persistent global health concern” published in Nature Reviews Microbiology.

You can read Anurag Bhargava, Maidhavi Bhargava and Madhukar Pai’s comment “Tuberculosis: a biosocial problem that requires biosocial solutions” published in the The Lancet.

We’re happy to officially welcome Vivian to the team! Vivian is working on the “The O’Neill-Lancet Commission on Racism, Structural Discrimination and Global Health – Structural change for health equity” project. Find out more about Vivian on our team’s webpage.

Read the latest editorial from Poshan Thapa, along with Surbhi Sheokand, Petra Heitkamp, Joel Klinton, Madhukar Pai and colleagues, titled “Unlocking the potential of informal healthcare providers in tuberculosis care: insights from India” published in BMJ Global Health.

Congratulations to Claudia Denkinger on winning the Heisenberg Professorship at Heidelberg University! Read the details in the university’s announcement.

Congratulations to Anurag & Madhavi Bhargava on becoming the inaugural winners of the Dr KV Desikan memorial award, which honors individuals and/or organizations who have made significant contributions in the field of infectious diseases, in community health/ development/rehabilitation and/or the laboratory sciences. Find out more here.

Read the TBPPM team’s latest paper “Building a virtual community of practice – The evolution of the TBPPM learning network, India chapter” published in the Journal of Clinical Tuberculosis and Other Mycobacterial Diseases.

We’re happy to welcome Ashlyn to our team! Ashlyn is working on the BMGF-funded project “Systematic reviews on sputum expectoration proportion“. Find out more about Ashlyn on our team’s webpage.

From January 29 to February 2, ICMR-NIRT hosted the 2024 “Advanced TB Diagnostics course – A capacity building workshop for countries in the South-East Asian Region” in Chennai, India. The workshop was led by Dr. Padmapriyadarsini, Director of NIRT, and Dr. Madhukar Pai, as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s initiative.

Congratulations to Poshan Thapa, Madhukar Pai, and the team (including many Pai TB Group alumni), on being awarded a CIHR Project Grant for the Fall 2023 competition! The “Empowering informal healthcare providers to detect tuberculosis using tongue swabs: a field-based, open-label, cluster randomized trial in India” project will kick-off April 1st 2024.

You can read the latest papers from the COVET team:

• Lavanya Huria and team: “Care pathways of individuals with tuberculosis before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bandung, Indonesia” published in PLoS Global Public Health
• Angelina Sassi and team: “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on quality of tuberculosis care in private facilities in Bandung, Indonesia: a repeated cross-sectional standardized patients study” published in BMC Public Health
• Charity Omenka and team: “Individual journeys to tuberculosis care in Nigeria’s private sector during the COVID-19 pandemic” published in BMJ Global Health

Congratulations for a fantastic start of the year!

You can read Emily MacLean and colleagues’ new guideline paper “Tuberculosis treatment monitoring tests during routine practice: study design guidance” published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection.

Congratulations to Poshan, who was awarded an RI-MUHC postdoctoral fellowship for 2024!

You can read Madhukar Pai and colleagues’ reflection “Editors as allies: Our two-year experience at PLOS Global Public Health” published in PLoS Global Public Health.

The QuTUB team recently published “The family doctor: health, kin testing and primary care in Patna, India“, which you can read in Anthropology & Medicine.

The 2023 Union conference was held in Paris, France, this year. It was also a great opportunity for current and past members of the team to connect in person!

Congratulations to Anurag and Madhavi Bhargava on their feature profile in The Lancet! Very inspiring!

Our team members presented their work during Global Health Night’s poster fair. Below are a few examples:

Congratulations to Madhukar Pai on being awarded a new Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant! This project will support capacity building for TB diagnostics through a series of advanced courses on TB diagnostics. The project will be conducted in partnership with NIRT, Chennai, who will be hosting a series of 3 advanced TB diagnostics courses over 3 years.

You can read Madhukar Pai and colleagues’ paper “Ending TB in South-East Asia: flagship priority and response transformation” published in The Lancet Regional Health-Southeast Asia.

Read Jacob Bigio and colleagues’ new paper “Accuracy of package inserts of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests: a secondary analysis of manufacturer versus systematic review data” published in The Lancet Microbe.

On October 6th, the COVET team welcomed Guy Stallworthy, Global Lead for TB Private Provider Engagement at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They were also joined by colleagues from the TBPPM team, for a fruitful day of discussions and reflections.

Congratulations to Poshan Thapa, whose latest PhD thesis paper “Barriers and facilitators to informal healthcare provider engagement in the national tuberculosis elimination program of India: An exploratory study from West Bengal” was just published in PLoS Global Public Health!