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U.Va Researcher Receives Half A Million Dollar Award

Dr. Upinder Singh, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, has been awarded half a million dollars over six years by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund as part of their Career Awards in the Biomedical Sciences program. She was one of 25 biomedical scientists in the U.S. and Canada chosen for this year's award.

Singh is studying the parasite entamoeba histolytica, which causes an estimated 50 million cases of dysentery and liver abscesses worldwide and results in 70,000 deaths annually.

This parasite has a complex life cycle during its infection in the human host, which makes it very difficult to kill, Singh said. Gaining a better understanding of how the parasite protects itself will help us combat and hopefully even eradicate this disease.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is an independent private foundation established to advance the medical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities. Within this broad mandate, BWF's general strategy is to help outstanding scientists early in their careers develop as independent investigators, and to support scientists working in basic biomedical fields that are undervalued or in need of particular encouragement.

July 8, 1998