School Notes: School of Medicine
July/August 2023

Trial will test use of oral antiviral for long COVID

A new clinical trial using the oral antiviral Paxlovid will provide urgently needed insights for COVID long-haulers and their providers. Since the pandemic’s onset, Harlan Krumholz ’80, Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine (cardiology) and professor in the Institute for Social and Policy Studies, of investigative medicine, and of public health (health policy), and Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and professor of dermatology, of molecular, cellular & developmental biology, and of epidemiology (infectious diseases), have been leaders in unraveling the mysteries of long COVID and advocating for those who are suffering. Through their clinical trial, they plan to combine their expertise in the clinic and lab to understand the biological mechanisms that occur throughout the course of receiving Paxlovid. The trial will be held through a unique decentralized format designed to boost accessibility for its participants. Krumholz and Iwasaki hope their findings will generate clinical insights on potential markers for diagnostic testing and targets for future interventions.

Professor elected to Academy of Arts and Sciences

Jorge Galán, Lucille P. Markey Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis and professor of cell biology, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Each year, the academy—an honorary society and independent policy organization with initiatives in the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science—elects new members in recognition of their notable achievements in academia, industry, policy, research, and science. Galán’s laboratory studies the pathogenesis of two intestinal pathogens, Salmonella Enterica and Campylobacter jejuni, which account for the majority of cases of infectious diarrhea worldwide and have led to an estimated two million deaths globally. His lab takes a multidisciplinary approach that involves bacterial genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, immunology, and structural biology to define the molecular details of the host-pathogen interactions.