YFS Foundation to offer awards to junior faculty studying infectious diseases

The UB Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences (CIGBS) has collaborated with the You First Services (YFS) Foundation to present an annual $5,000 award to early-career faculty whose research focuses on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

The YFS Foundation Clinical and Translational Research Award aims to stimulate discoveries that lead to health care innovations and therapeutic interventions for a wide range of diseases.

The award recognizes excellence in clinical and translational research, and is open to all junior faculty — assistant professor rank or equivalent — worldwide engaged in programs recognized by CIGBS. Recipients will be notified by March 2023 and funds may be used without restriction. To promote team science, applications can be submitted by more than one individual and, if successful, the award will be shared equally.

For more information on the award and how to apply, visit the YFS Foundation website.

“We are very glad to provide a mechanism to recognize the talented scholars who participate in CIGBS capacity-building programs,” says Satish Sharma, chair and chief executive officer of the You First Services Group of Companies.

Established in 2015, CIGBS is an international hub for addressing global health challenges through pharmacological research and education, and drug and vaccine development. Directed by Gene Morse, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the center brings together faculty from research, clinical and applied programs to tackle the world’s most pressing health issues.

CIGBS provides mentored research and education training programs to scholars around the globe in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Jamaica and the United States. The center oversees or is a partner in more than a dozen international and local initiatives, including the Western New York (WNY) COVID-19 Collaborative, an interdisciplinary group of community organizations, health care providers, academic centers and businesses that partner on vaccine promotion, infection prevention strategies, and COVID-19 testing and treatment in Erie and Niagara counties.

“This award that recognizes one of our CIGBS scholars each year for their innovation and leadership is exciting and creates many new opportunities for our scholars, thanks to the YFS Foundation,” says Morse, also co-director of the WNY COVID-19 Collaborative and co-director of the SUNY Global Health Institute.

Gary M. Pollack, professor and dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, adds that one of the lessons learned from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is the “potentially devastating impact that emerging infectious diseases can have on the health of individuals, families and communities around the world.”

“The treatment and mitigation of infectious diseases is an area in which pharmacy can and should lead, and I am so very proud of the work being done by Dr. Morse and UB’s CIBGS,” Pollack says. “It demonstrates the profound impact and societal benefit of great public universities.”

Visit the CIGBS website to learn more about the center’s programs and initiatives.