May 23, 2008
WEB FEATURE
Expert on tuberculosis and HIV receives 2008 Haas International Award
By Roberta Myers
Marcos Espinal Fuentes, M.D., Dr.P.H. '95, M.P.H. '91, received the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award at UC Berkeley's Commencement Convocation on May 13, 2008, for his contributions toward the global control of tuberculosis. The School of Public Health alumnus said he was surprised and honored to receive the Haas Award, and that it has inspired him to resolve to continue doing his best to excel in his field.
Espinal was a pediatrician from the Dominican Republic when he began to conduct research as a doctoral student concerning the intersection of the HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis epidemics in his native country. He was able to complete his postgraduate degrees in public health at Berkeley with funding through the Fogarty International Center's AIDS International Training and Research Program. The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease selected one of his studies as the most important and outstanding scientific contribution of the year in 1996. In fact, his dissertation research produced half a dozen original research publications in leading international journals, including the Lancet. Since then, he has published more than 50 papers concerning tuberculosis, including several concerning multi-drug resistant strains.
In 1997, Espinal agreed to head the World Health Organization's Global Project on Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Surveillance. Three years later, he took over leadership of the Green Light Committee, a partnership between WHO and other key international organizations to manage multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in more than 40 countries. In 2003, he became the executive secretary of the Stop TB Partnership, a global movement hosted by WHO to speed up social and political action to stop the spread of TB worldwide. Since then, the partnership's financial resources have tripled. He is also leading the Global Drug Facility, a project of the partnership that has delivered over 10 million treatments for TB in the past six years in over 80 countries.
In an interview, Espinal reminisced that he chose his doctoral dissertation research area in consultation with his mentor, Arthur Reingold, head of the Epidemiology Division at the School of Public Health, and said that his entire career path has grown out of that choice. Reaching his position has not been easy for someone from a poor country. Modest and soft-spoken, Espinal comes across as a person with a sharp sense of irony and good humor. He said he is very grateful for the Fogarty funding that enabled him to come from a developing country and eventually rise to a position where he makes major international policy decisions and meets with "people like Bill Gates and the President of Nigeria."
His years at Berkeley, he said, have made him "a better professional and a grown-up human being." He is thankful to Art, who he says has been a wonderful mentor, influential in getting him into the competitive international arena. "He has heart!"
It is obvious that he enjoyed his time on the Berkeley campus among the Fogarty Scholars. "The ambience of Berkeley is open to outsiders, and the diversity on campus makes it easier for foreigners."
This article originally appeared in the Berkeley AITRP News and is reproduced with permission.