GKII Bolstering Local Capacity for Infectious Diseases Research

Several JHU faculty traveled to India recently to mark the establishment of a new laboratory at the YRG Care Suniti Solomon Center in Chennai, India We are enormously proud to support the lab, made possible through generous contributions from GKII Advisory Board members Raj and Kamla Gupta, Maureen Sherry, and Steven Klinsky, the lab will serve as a pivotal hub for cutting-edge research on infectious diseases, driving innovation, and pioneering new prevention and treatment strategies.

At a Dedication Ceremony organized in Chennai, Dr. Amita Gupta, GKII Faculty Co-Chair, unveiled a plaque acknowledging GKII’s support for the infectious diseases laboratory at the YRG Care Center in Chennai. She underscored the transformative impact of integrating research efforts to tackle infectious diseases effectively.

Dr. Gupta emphasized that the establishment of this laboratory is a testament to GKII’s commitment to empowering researchers, students, and the community alike. The laboratory will serve as a pivotal hub for cutting-edge research on infectious diseases, driving innovation, and pioneering new treatments and strategies to prevent and treat these ailments.

The inauguration event was followed by the Suniti Solomon Memorial Symposium in the evening, hosted by YRGCARE. This symposium titled “Lessons from COVID-19: Back to the future” brought together experts from Johns Hopkins to share crucial insights from COVID-19 and enhance the global response to future pandemics. The speakers included Shruti H. Mehta, Professor of Epidemiology and Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Paul Auwaerter, Professor of Medicine and Clinical Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Mark Sulkowski, Professor of Medicine and Senior Associate Dean forClinical Trials at Hopkins; and Gavin Cloherty, Head, Infectious Disease Research, Abbott Laboratories.

The symposium celebrated the robust, decades-long knowledge and research collaborations that Hopkins shares with researchers, community leaders, and healthcare professionals from India. Panelists delved into critical aspects such as clinical protocols, diagnostics, surveillance, and data management, aimed to enhance readiness for future pandemics.