MD '00, associate professor Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Desruisseaux joined the Einstein facul- ty in 2007, following a clinical fellow- ship there, in which she studied infec- tious diseases and developed her inter- est in CM. to elucidate the pathogenesis of the dis- ease. The Desruisseaux lab has focused on inflammation of the endothelium-- the cells that line the inside of blood vessels--triggered by infection with the P. falciparum parasite. The lab hopes a clear understanding of this process will open the door to pathways in the ner- treatment of the neurological sequelae of CM. using the mouse model, her group was the first to describe an increase in en- dothelin, a peptide that causes con- striction of blood vessels and can trig- ger inflammation. the lab demonstrated abnormal regula- tion of the tau protein, also thought to be a culprit in the formation of nerve tangles in neurodegenerative dis- eases such as Alzheimer's disease. "We demonstrated that when we could interrupt the actions that cause abnor- malities in this protein, we could pre- vent mortality and neurological defi- Desruisseaux. Tamiwe Tomoka, MD, a pathologist from the University of Malawi College of Medicine, visited Einstein. Dr. Tomoka worked in Dr. Desruisseaux's lab for two months, learning about the pathophysiology of CM, using the mouse model. They discussed the value to the lab of research under way in Malawi--a small nation in southeast- ern Africa--and then, in 2015, under a grant from the Global Health Center at Einstein, Dr. Desruisseaux traveled to Malawi to work with Dr. Tomoka and other collaborators. A year later, the center funded her return trip to Malawi to continue the collaboration. part of Dr. Desruisseaux's work. Einstein College of Medicine, she works in the Infectious Disease Service at Montefiore Medical Center's Weiler Hospital. As a hospitalist in the admis- sions unit, she helps handle the emer- gency department overflow, care for patients, and teach Infectious Disease |