(Boston)-Donald M. Thea, MD, MSc, professor of Global Health at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and director of the MD/MPH dual degree program at Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and Public Health, was recognized with a 2019 Alumni Award from Antioch College.
Alumni Awards are earned by select Antiochians every year and conferred by the Alumni Association Board from a pool of alumni nominations. Five categories of award exist. Thea received the Horace Mann Award, reserved for those who have "won some victory for humanity" and having a "profound effect on the present or future human condition."
Thea received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his training in infectious diseases at Tufts Medical Center (formerly New England Medical Center). In addition, he received a Master of Science in tropical medicine from the London School of Hygiene. His extensive education and passion for treating patients with infectious diseases has led him to investigate several diseases across continents, extending his work beyond the U.S. to the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) and Zambia.
Thea's training occurred during the explosion of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. A focus of his research is mother to baby transmission of the virus, specifically how it is transmitted through breast milk. His work also includes investigating and addressing malaria and childhood pneumonia. One of his most recent endeavors, funded by a five-year R01 grant in 2018, is studying the factors at play in the health of children who did not acquire HIV from their mothers infected with the virus.
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Contact: Gina DiGravio, 617-638-8480, ginad@bu.edu