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For Immediate Release
Leading Researcher of Chlamydial Infections Selected To Head Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital
Pittsburgh, Pa. -
August 9, 2007
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Toni Darville, MD, an infectious disease specialist recognized internationally for her research on the pathogenesis of chlamydial infections has been appointed chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
Before joining Children’s this month, Dr. Darville had been chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and a professor of pediatrics and microbiology/immunology at the University of Arkansas School for Medical Sciences.
Dr. Darville is considered one of the world’s foremost researchers of Chlamydia trachomatis, a bacterium which is the most frequently reported cause of sexually transmitted disease in the United States. Because symptoms are usually mild or absent, it can damage a woman’s reproductive organs and cause irreversible damage, including infertility, before a woman ever recognizes a problem.
“Children’s is fortunate to have someone as experienced and dynamic as Dr. Darville to lead its Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. She not only brings her own well-established research that could have an enormous impact on global public health, she also will serve as a leader in training our next generation of pediatric physician-scientists,” said David H. Perlmutter, MD, physician-in-chief and scientific director at Children’s and the Vira I. Heinz Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Dr. Darville’s research has provided new insight into how Chlamydia damages the reproductive organs, a critically important area in relation to the role of these infections in causing infertility as well as premature labor and complications in sick preterm infants. Her work also has outstanding potential for developing new vaccine targets.
For the last 12 years, Dr. Darville has received funding from the National Institutes of Health to conduct her research, and in 1998 she received the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Young Investigator Award. She has authored or co-authored more than 43 studies appearing in academic journals. She is a member of many prestigious national organizations such as the Society for Pediatric Research, the American Society for Microbiologists and the American Association of Immunologists.
Dr. Darville has spent her entire educational and professional career at the University of Arkansas. She completed her undergraduate degree in chemistry in 1983 and her medical degree in 1987. She completed her residency in pediatrics in 1990 and her fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases in 1993. Her medical students have given her awards as a teacher almost every year since she joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas School for Medical Sciences in 1993.
Learn more about Children’s Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.
Contacts:
Marc Lukasiak, 412-692-7919 or 412-692-5016, Marc.Lukasiak@chp.edu
Melanie Finnigan, 412-692-5502 or 412-692-5016, Melanie.Finnigan@chp.edu
Last Update
February 13, 2008
February 13, 2008
