Donald Thea

Professor, International Health at Boston University

Schools

  • Boston University

Links

Biography

Boston University

Dr. Thea received his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and was trained in tropical medicine at the London School of Hygiene and infectious diseases at New England Medical Center. He has pursued a full time career in both domestic and international clinical and epidemiological infectious disease research, primarily in issues related to child survival and in particular mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Dr. Thea was an early member of Project SIDA (Kinshasa, Zaire), the first international clinical AIDS field site, where he did work on the etiology of diarrhea in perinatally acquired HIV infection and was the director of the Clinical Research Unit. He pursued his interest in perinatal transmission of HIV as the Principal Investigator of the New York City Collaborative Perinatal HIV Transmission Study.

In 1998 he then joined the Health and Social Development Unit of the Harvard Institute for International Development where he focused on international field research in Acute Respiratory Illness, Malaria and HIV. Dr. Thea joined the International Health department along with the other members of the Harvard team where he is currently a Professor of International Health and the Director of the Clinical Sciences Unit within the Center for International Health and Development (CIHD). In this capacity, Dr. Thea provides senior technical leadership of a portfolio of projects addressing community treatment of neonatal sepsis, management of acute respiratory illness in children, community and facilities-based management of acute malaria, presumptive prophylaxis of malaria in pregnancy, social and behavioral aspects of HIV transmission and child sexual abuse. Dr. Thea is the Principal Investigator of several studies and projects including a prospective cohort study of postnatal HIV through breastmilk (the Zambia Exclusive Breastfeeding Study), the Zambia Boston University Malaria Project ZAMBUMP, the Boston University PMTCT Integration Projects – Southern Province Zambia.

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Cases

Zika Is No Reason To Postpone The Olympics in Rio

June 15, 2016

Fortune By Donald Thea, School of Public Health George Annas, School of Public Health Sandro Galea, School of Public Health The proof is in these numbers. Since their revival in the late 19th Century as a way to promote peace among warring nations, the modern Olympic games have often been a stage on which international […]

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A Gold Medal in Fear Mongering

June 2, 2016

Huffington Post By Sandro Galea, Donald Thea, George Annas, School of Public Health As the Olympics draw near, is it time to reassess the Zika risks of holding them in Brazil, or even to initiate a travel ban on Rio? 100 “experts” seem to think so… View full article by experts Sandro Galea, Donald Thea, […]

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Stopping Zika: Should we be handing out condoms at airports?

March 29, 2016

CNN.com Donald Thea, School of Public Health Welcome to the U.S.! Have a condom! That’s the message millions of travelers might hear when stepping off an airplane, as public health experts look for ways to stop the Zika virus… Expert quote: “It sounds like a reasonable public health education campaign. It may help get the message […]

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OPINION: Zika virus is not Ebola

February 1, 2016

Boston Globe (subscription required) By George Annas, School of Public Health Sandro Galea, School of Public Health Donald Thea, School of Public Health Just last week, the World Health Organization last week announced that the Zika virus was “spreading explosively.” Today, it declared Zika “a public health emergency of international concern.”… View full article by […]

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Dr. Donald Thea On What We Know About The Zika Virus

January 29, 2016

WBUR “CommonHealth” Donald Thea, School of Public Health For the first time, a Massachusetts resident has been diagnosed with the Zika virus… Listen to audio of expert Donald Thea  

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New Ebola treatments mostly failing

January 11, 2016

CNN.com Donald Thea, School of Public Health, Center for Global Health and Development Despite a massive international effort, several treatments that once held great hope for fighting Ebola have turned out not to work against the dreaded virus that killed more than 11,000 people in the most recent outbreak. Expert quote: “It absolutely limits you as […]

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The reason Ebola isn’t being stopped

September 11, 2014

CNN.com Donald Thea, School of Public Health When she was an undergraduate at Princeton University, books like “The Hot Zone” and “Virus Hunters” captivated Rebecca Levine, inspiring her to become a disease detective… Expert quote: “With smallpox, we could offer people a vaccine, a carrot in essence to induce them to be cooperative. With Ebola, […]

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