Faculty Spotlight: Clarissa Valim.

Collaborative work is key to developing sustainable public health solutions and improving population health outcomes. This weekly series spotlights one SPH faculty member who advances public health through collaborations within the field and across sectors.

Can you talk about your epidemiologic work and research interests in malaria, Zika, and childhood pneumonia?

I was born and raised in Brazil, where I trained as a physician, and moved to Boston in 1993, where I trained as an epidemiologist and a biostatistician. The toll of infectious diseases that was around me in Brazil and my passion for vaccines and immunology inspired me to follow a path.

Malaria is one of the leading causes of childhood death in low and middle-income countries. Developing a good vaccine for malaria has proven to be difficult because the natural immunity induced by the infection is complex. The leading vaccine is the RTS,S vaccine, with which I have worked for several years. First, I have developed a more accurate method for determining the efficacy of the vaccine. Subsequently, I focused on identifying parasite “strains” escaping vaccine-induced immunity. Currently, I am expanding my work towards identifying new vaccine targets in a cohort enrolled in Malawi while continuing to work with RTS,S. With a large team of investigators, I am studying the efficacy on malaria transmission of RTS,S in combination with another control measure (insecticide-impregnated bednets). This and other studies in control and transmission of malaria in Malawi are funded by National Institutes of Health’s International Centers of Excellence in Malaria Research Network.

I started working in pediatric pneumonia about four years ago, with a slightly different public health goal in mind. The problem with pneumonia is that antibiotics are prescribed to most patients with pneumonia, even those who have viral pneumonia. Conversely, in malaria endemic areas, oftentimes children with bacterial diseases do not receive antibiotics when their symptoms are mistakenly attributed to a malaria co-infection. A point-of-care rapid test would allow determining who does and who does not need antibiotics to control antibiotic resistance and prevent “undertreatment” of children from malaria endemic areas. I have screened through large numbers of inflammatory proteins in the blood looking for signatures to establish the presence of a bacterial infection in patients with clinical pneumonia. Those studies have involved wonderful partners from Mozambique, US, Spain, and the Netherlands. Currently, I am finishing a study of 900 children with pneumonia in rural Gambia. The next step is taking the signatures and developing that elusive point-of-care diagnostic test.

When Zika emerged, I saw an opportunity to apply my work in inflammatory markers to improve the care of patients with Zika. However, as transmission has dropped off worldwide, that work is now on hold.  Right now, I am currently establishing new partnerships to work in SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil and several African counties.

How is collaborative research integral to your work, and can you discuss one or two collaborations that have been most meaningful to you? 

Some of the most important scientific advances have occurred when collaborative research teams include experts from many specialties and subspecialties. Accumulated knowledge these days is vast. My work in correlates of naturally- and vaccine-induced immunity, for instance, requires expertise in epidemiology, biostatistics, data science, immunology, infectious diseases, assay development, regulatory science etc. No one can do this alone. Global health adds a new dimension because success of studies depends on collaboration with partners in other countries who understand the subtle diversity of cultures and health systems.

My most meaningful collaborations have been with passionate investigators from all over the world, including Michigan State University and the Broad Institute, in US, and groups in Africa and Europe. I cannot single the two most meaningful collaborations because I have had had the incredible good fortune to have so many amazing ones. However, my best collaborations are not only with top-notch researchers but also amazing human beings that understand that it is important to keep transparent and caring relationships with their research teams and collaborators. They nurture and strengthen their teams. When we find collaborators like this, we tend to work together over time. We develop a culture where we are mutually available and supportive of each other, as well as spurring each other on to address the next important question. We devote our energy to mentoring and fostering the careers of the next generation of researchers in Boston and every place we work.

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“Professor Valim joined the Department of Global Health in January 2020, bringing with her passion for preventing diseases like malaria and childhood pneumonia. Over the years, Clarissa has developed an impressive network of collaborators in Africa, South America, Europe and Australia who are working on evaluating existing and candidate vaccines and development of point of care diagnostics for important infectious diseases. 

Since joining the department, she has continued to broaden her collaborations within and outside the department and has expanded the infectious diseases she is studying to include the Zika virus and currently COVID-19. Her multidisciplinary teams include infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, immunologists and laboratory scientists with expertise in developing innovative assays for infections using just a drop of blood. I cannot wait to see what Clarissa does next, but I invite students, staff and faculty to reach out to her if you have similar interests.”

Patricia Hibberd, chair of the Department of Global Health