These awards are part of the new academic research programs supported by AXA Research Fund.
Dr Hui-Ling Yen, Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health of HKU and formerly an honorary member of the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, will receive €250,000 (more than 2 million HKD) for a project aimed at evaluating the rate of transmission efficiency of influenza viruses via aerosols or droplets of different particle sizes, both in the laboratory and in the field. Her results will enable a better understanding of transmission of influenza viruses in Asia and help reduce the life risk of influenza under epidemic or pandemic settings.
Dr Simon Cauchemez, Unit Head at Institut Pasteur, has also been awarded €250,000 to develop state-of-the-art mathematical methods to better understand and anticipate the spread of infectious diseases in human populations. His project relies on the collection of epidemiological data in Bangladesh, India and Madagascar on influenza, dengue and chikungunya to unravel the spatial determinants of spread to support policy making and improve control strategies.
A third award has been given to Dr Ngo Thi Hoa,Head of the Zoonosis Group at Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Namto study Vietnamese local communities’ perceptions and activities in relation to zoonosis.
