Colleagues old and new feted Peter Agre last week at a
reception at the Bloomberg School of
Public Health to officially welcome the Nobel Prize-winning
biochemist as the new director of the
Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute.
Agre, who spent three decades at Johns Hopkins' School
of Medicine before becoming vice
chancellor for science and technology at Duke University
Medical Center in 2005, took over the
institute on Jan. 1. As director, he oversees 19 faculty
members who concentrate on advancing basic
science to develop new methods in malaria prevention and
treatment.
"We needed a person to inspire young faculty —
and old faculty — to provide scientific leadership
and to provide the visibility we think is appropriate for
this institute," said Diane Griffin, founding
director of the institute and chair of
Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Bloomberg
School.
Dean Michael J. Klag added, "His passion for the
health of the human race is palpable. The
attraction of working on a disease that kills more than 1
million people a year — that's what got him
here."