UB MED DOCTOR VISITS
Photosby bySandra SandraKicman Kicman Photos
“I wanted to tackle the issue of preventing infections in children in marginalized communities.”
PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES WORLDWIDE Oscar Gómez, MD, PhD, a leader in mitigation
While a medical student in his native country of Colombia, Oscar Gómez saw a disproportionately high number of children L or i Ferg uson with preventable infections compared to adults, and the phenomenon spurred him to action. “In the late 1980s, there were many problems with sanitation in Colombia, and the connection to infectious diseases was not well understood by the public health authorities,” he explains. “When I witnessed the number of children being adversely affected by these conditions, I was convinced there should be more preventative measures in place.” In the ensuing three decades, that goal motivated Gómez to pursue a rigorous education. He earned an MD in Colombia, completed a PhD in microbiology and a postdoctoral fellowship in vaccinology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a postdoctoral fellowship in infection biology at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, a residency in pediatrics at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, and a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Washington. After serving on the faculties at the University of Iowa and at Vanderbilt University, he joined the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, where he is an associate professor and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics. Today, Gómez is a leader in the study and treatment of childhood infectious gastrointestinal diseases and a physician-scientist dedicated to research in the molecular epidemiology, bacterial St ories by
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UB MEDICINE
pathogenesis and vaccine development of enteric infections in children around the world. His most widespread initiative is the International Enteric Vaccines Research Program (IEVRP). “I wanted to tackle the issue of preventing infections in children in marginalized communities, particularly in low-income countries,” he says. “In some Latin American, African and Southeast Asian countries, information on gastrointestinal infections is either non-existent or scarce, especially for certain pathogens.” IEVRP takes a three-pronged approach to rectifying that shortfall. The program explores the epidemiology of infectious diseases in children from low-income countries; seeks to increase understanding on the mechanisms by which enteric pathogens cause disease; and works to develop ways to prevent infections, either by developing vaccines or by implementing prevention strategies. To that end, Gómez has collaborated with physicians in Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the U.S. to conduct research, teach, obtain research funding and publish findings. Gómez has been equally dedicated to cultivating relationships within the UB community. “Faculty from the Office of Global Health Initiatives at the School of Public Health and Health Professions, the UB Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences, and the Global Medicine program, have been very open to collaboration,” he says. “Interest in global health at UB is amazing. In fact, I’ve found Buffalo to be a very welcoming community, both personally and professionally. My goal is to further develop my enteric research program, to contribute to the health of children and, along the way, to provide education to national and international trainees in infectious diseases and global health.”
