Dr. Helen Cox, Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow in the Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, and Associate Member of the IDM, has been awarded the 2015 Union Scientific Prize from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. The Prize acknowledges researchers at any stage of their career for work in lung health published in the past five years.

Dr Cox has worked for more than ten years to combine public health practice with academic research in the area of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). From playing an instrumental role in the establishment of one of the first drug-resistant TB treatments in Central Asia, to researching the high burden of DR-TB in Khayelitsha, Dr Cox is mostly passionate about the use of relevant, field-based research to change policy and improve patient outcomes.

Dr Cox’s main research interests revolve around the diagnosis, treatment and epidemiology of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Since 2008, Dr Cox has conducted operational research in Khayelitsha, where a high burden of DR-TB exists, and is currently involved in a large study to assess linkage to DR-TB treatment for diagnosis in South Africa. Her most recent publication includes results of a randomised trial assessing the impact of GeneXpert on TB diagnosis and treatment initiation in a large primary care clinic in Khayelitsha. “Given the widespread rollout of Xpert in South Africa, such data is fundamental to assessing what is required for further improvements in TB diagnosis and to assessments of cost-effectiveness in the long term” says Dr Cox. This study was followed by an analysis of the impact of Xpert in reducing time to treatment for DR-TB in the same setting.

Dr Cox is also the recipient of another prestigious award, the Victoria (Australia) Premier’s Award for Medical Research in 2007, which recognises achievement early career health and medical researchers. Originally from Australia, she received her doctoral degree at the University of Melbourne. Part of her doctoral research took place in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan where she helped start a DR-TB programme which currently treats more than a thousand patients a year.

Dr Cox’s further research interests include: the use of new and repurposed drugs in novel treatment regimens for DR-TB, cost analysis of different approaches for DR-TB treatment and the application of a human rights approach to improving the effectiveness and access to DR-TB treatment.

She will receive this prestigious award at the 46th World Conference on Lung Health, which will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in December 2015.