(Boston)—Natasha Hochberg, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine (section of infectious diseases) at Boston University School of Medicine, has received the 2021 Bailey K. Ashford Medal from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The honor is awarded annually for distinguished work in tropical medicine. Hochberg, who also is an associate professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health, is one of two recipients this year.
Hochberg studies the impact of malnutrition and parasitic disease on tuberculosis (TB), tropical diseases in immigrant populations and preventing diseases in international travelers. Approximately 10 million people develop TB each year and is the leading infectious cause of death (after COVID-19); although undernutrition is the leading risk factor for TB, it has received little attention. She is the principal investigator of the TB LION study (Learning the Impact Of Nutrition) in Pondicherry India that studies how undernutrition drives TB risk and whether it is reversible. She is also site principal investigator of the US-Indo RePORT (Regional Prospective Observational Research in TB) study and principal investigator (PI) on a grant studying micronutrients in household contacts of TB patients funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the University of Nebraska.
She is the Director of Tropical Medicine and an infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center where she sees travelers and patients with tropical diseases with a particular focus on Chagas disease and other parasitic infections. She is the PI for a cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the INSECT program (Implementing Novel Strategies for Education and Chagas Testing) and site PI for an National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research grant to identify a test of cure for Chagas disease. She serves as the co-site director for GeoSentinel, an international surveillance system of diseases in travelers and migrants and participates in studies related to tropical medicine and travelers’ health.
At a national level, she is part of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene where she serves as President-Elect for the Clinical Group, as a member of the Scientific Program Committee and as the Chair for the Subcommittee on Pneumonia, Respiratory Infections and TB.
Before joining Boston University, Hochberg was an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer at the Centers for Disease and Prevention in the Division of Parasitic Diseases and worked internationally on projects related to malaria, visceral leishmaniasis, guinea worm disease and lymphatic filariasis.
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, founded in 1903, is the largest international scientific organization of experts dedicated to reducing the worldwide burden of tropical infectious diseases and improving global health.