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Richard L. Guerrant

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Richard L. Guerrant (born July 21, 1943) is an American physician, medical school professor, and medical researcher, specializing in infectious diseases and tropical medicine.

Biography

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Guerrant received his bachelor's degree from Davidson College and his M.D. from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.[1] He completed his residency in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Harvard Medical Service at Boston City Hospital, where Maxwell Finland was his supervising attending physician and mentor.[2]

After his cholera field research in Bangladesh, he returned to the University of Virginia School of Medicine. There he became a professor and the founding director of the Center for Global Health.[2] He is the author or co-author of over 700 articles[3] and the co-editor of several books.

In field studies, particularly in Brazil, he and his colleagues investigated the developmental problems of children who suffered from persistent diarrheal diseases in the critical first years of their lives. These investigations showed that such diseases stunted growth and harmed cognitive skills. The pathological cognitive effects, involving losses up to 10 IQ points, were linguistically not phonetic, but semantic, similar to the cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's patients. Guerrant and his team also found that APOE-ε4, the main risk allele in Alzheimer's disease, protects children against such cognitive losses due to diarrhea. This protection is a possible explanation for the spread of the allele APOE-ε4.[4][5][6][7][8] This unexpected effect of the allele APOE-ε4 is analogous to the role of sickle cell anemia as a side effect of protection against malaria and the allele associated with cystic fibrosis as protection against cholera and other diarrheal diseases. He is continuing the research with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[2]

The Infectious Diseases Society of America honored Guerrant with the Joseph E. Lectureship in 1993[9] and the Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award in 2009.[10] In 1997 he was the president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH),[11] was named Henderson Innovator of the Year at the University of Virginia,[2] and received the Emilio Ribas Medal from the Sociedade Brasileira de Infectologia (Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases).[12] In 2002 he gave the Wesley Spink Memorial Lecture at the University of Minnesota's Department of Medicine.[13] In 2003 Guerrant was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine.[14] He received in 2008 the Walter Reed Medal from the ASTMH[15] and in 2014 the Maxwell Finland Award from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.[2]

Richard L. Guerrant and his wife Nancy B. Guerrant established the Richard and Nancy Guerrant Center for Global Health Scholar Award at the University of Virginia.[16] The couple have two sons and a daughter.

Selected publications

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Articles

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Books

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References

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  1. ^ "Guerrant, Richard L." Research Faculty Directory, University of Virginia School of Medicine. (with Selected Publications)
  2. ^ a b c d e "Richard L. Guerrant, MD, 2014 Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement Awardee" (PDF). National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
  3. ^ "Richard L. Guerrant, MD". Center for Global Health Equity, University of Virginia.
  4. ^ Oriá, Reinaldo B.; Patrick, Peter D.; Zhang, Hong; Lorntz, Breyette; De Castro Costa, Carlos Maurício; Brito, Gerly A C.; Barrett, Leah J.; Lima, Aldo A M.; Guerrant, Richard L. (2005). "APOE4 Protects the Cognitive Development in Children with Heavy Diarrhea Burdens in Northeast Brazil". Pediatric Research. 57 (2): 310–316. doi:10.1203/01.PDR.0000148719.82468.CA. PMID 15611352. S2CID 10285777.
  5. ^ Oriá, Reinaldo B.; Patrick, Peter D.; Blackman, James A.; Lima, Aldo A.M.; Guerrant, Richard L. (2007). "Role of apolipoprotein E4 in protecting children against early childhood diarrhea outcomes and implications for later development". Medical Hypotheses. 68 (5): 1099–1107. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2006.09.036. PMC 3993898. PMID 17098371.
  6. ^ Guerrant, Richard L.; Oriá, Reinaldo B.; Moore, Sean R.; Oriá, Mônica OB; Lima, Aldo AM (2008). "Malnutrition as an enteric infectious disease with long-term effects on child development". Nutrition Reviews. 66 (9): 487–505. doi:10.1111/j.1753-4887.2008.00082.x. PMC 2562291. PMID 18752473.
  7. ^ Mitter, SS; Oria, RB; Kvalsund, MP; Pamplona, P.; Joventino, ES; Mota, RMS; Goncalves, DC; Patrick, PD; Guerrant, RL; Lima, AAM (2012). "Apolipoprotein E4 influences growth and cognitive responses to micronutrient supplementation in shantytown children from northeast Brazil". Clinics. 67 (1): 11–18. doi:10.6061/clinics/2012(01)03. PMC 3248595. PMID 22249475.
  8. ^ Azevedo, Orleâncio G. R.; Bolick, David T.; Roche, James K.; Pinkerton, Relana F.; Lima, Aldo A. M.; Vitek, Michael P.; Warren, Cirle A.; Oriá, Reinaldo B.; Guerrant, Richard L. (2014). "Apolipoprotein e Plays a Key Role against Cryptosporidial Infection in Transgenic Undernourished Mice". PLOS ONE. 9 (2): e89562. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...989562A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089562. PMC 3938486. PMID 24586873.
  9. ^ "Past Joseph E. Smadel Lectureship Winners". Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
  10. ^ "Past Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award Winners". Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
  11. ^ Guerrant, R. L. (1998). "Why America must care about tropical medicine: threats to global health and security from tropical infectious diseases". The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 59 (1): 3–16. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.198.5345. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.1998.59.3. PMID 9684618. (presidential address delivered December 9, 1997)
  12. ^ "Richard L. Guerrant". antimicrobe.org.
  13. ^ "Annual Wesley Spink Memorial Lecture". Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota. 15 December 2019.
  14. ^ "Guerrant, Richard L." General Directory, National Academy of Medicine.
  15. ^ "Walter Reed Medal". American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
  16. ^ "The Richard and Nancy Guerrant Center for Global Health Scholar Award". Center for Global Health Equity, University of Virginia.
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