Drugs & Diagnostics for Tropical Diseases (DDTD) invites you to join us on October 13, 2018 at the University Club Atop Symphony Towers for our San Diego Health For All Humanity night, in support of discovery of new treatments and diagnostics for neglected tropical diseases. Your emcee for the evening will be veteran journalist, Kenny Goldberg, reporter for KPBS, the NPR and PBS affiliate in San Diego. During his more than 20 years at KPBS, Kenny’s radio and television work garnered six Golden Mic awards, a regional Edward R. Murrow award, two Emmy nominations, and numerous other honors.He was also awarded fellowships from the New York Times Foundation, the National Press Foundation, and the United Nations Foundation.

We are proud to announce our Scientific Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is distinguished professor and Dean of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California at San Diego, Dr. James McKerrow, Ph.D., M.D. Dr. McKerrow leads a consortium of scientists dedicated to the discovery and development of new drugs for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This consortium, the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, is a division within the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC, San Diego. He has co-authored more than a dozen book chapters, published more than 250 articles and has been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences and symposia. Dr. McKerrow will be recognized for his many years dedicated to research of NTDs.

DDTD was established in 2011, stemming from a long-standing desire to tackle diseases that are not adequately addressed. As part of our mission, we are developing easy to use, rapid, inexpensive diagnostics to specifically detect infections associated with loiasis, lymphatic filariasis, and river blindness. We are passionate about serving the needs of the underprivileged within our capacity as scientists. In addition, we believe it is important to increase public awareness of the dire need to improve global health. The community’s resulting civic engagement can make an impact globally and DDTD wants to lead these efforts.

DDTD embraces the idea of eliminating diseases that do not belong in the 21st century. The first step towards eliminating a disease is the ability to detect it. Mapping diseases is critical in order to initiate mass drug administration programs, allocate resources, monitor progress, and eventually verify elimination. DDTD focuses on NTDs, a group of diseases that afflicts 1 in 6 people, or approximately 1.4 billion individuals worldwide. NTDs are severely debilitating, lower cognitive function in children, and hamper economic development. Worldwide, 149 countries and territories are affected by at least one NTD, resulting in approximately 57 million years of life lost due to premature disability.