On Tuesday, two of Sabin Vaccine Institute’s senior executives, Dr. Peter Hotez and Dr. Ciro de Quadros, were named among the “Top 50 Global Vaccine Influencers” by Vaccine Nation. Both Dr. Hotez and Dr. de Quadros have made significant contributions in global health throughout their careers and the countless lives they have touched stand as a testament to their vaccine advocacy and development efforts.

In this first study of its kind, Drs. Hotez and Lee measured the health and economic impact of Chagas disease and found that the total economic burden matches or exceeds that of many more well-known diseases such as rotavirus, Lyme disease and cervical cancer. In total, the study estimates that the global economic cost of Chagas disease exceeds USD $7 billion annually.

Heather Ignatius, a senior policy and advocacy officer with PATH’s Advocacy and Public Policy team in Washington, DC, recently wrote about her thoughts on global health and development priorities for the second-term Obama administration and the 113th Congress. Thanks to PATH for allowing us to share her piece. Photo credit: PATH/Mike Wang

Dr. Peter Hotez recently published a new discussion paper in partnership with the Institute of Medicine. It makes recommendations for U.S. Government public support of global health research and development, including R&D for neglected diseases.

Last week, researchers published the “Global Burden of Disease Study 2010,” the most comprehensive effort since the GBD 1990 to produce complete and comparable estimates of the burden of diseases and other health challenges.