James W. Kazura, MD

Advancing fundamental knowledge of the mechanisms underlying susceptibility to infection and the pathogenesis of clinical disease due to malaria and chronic worm infections endemic in tropical areas of the world is the focus of Kazura’s work. The ultimate goal is to apply this knowledge to the development of preventative and interventional strategies that are proven effective from a scientific perspective, culturally appropriate, and cost-effective.
A major emphasis of research is to integrate the tools of human molecular immunology, parasitology and genetics into field-based studies conducted in collaboration with research and public health colleagues based in disease-endemic countries. Active studies concerned with falciparum malaria are aimed at determining whether and how naturally acquired immunity to Plasmodium falciparum evolves during infancy and early childhood and the mechanisms underlying the stability of this immunity. Ongoing studies of malaria immunity in endemic areas of western Kenya are focused on determining whether epigenetic modifications of innate immune cells elicited by repeated malaria exposures during early childhood attenuates inflammatory gene expression that underlies clinical tolerance of blood stage malaria infection (“subclinical malaria”) in school age children. In addition to research, Kazura is active in promoting tropical medicine as a scholarly and scientific discipline through participation on NIH and WHO committees and editorial service on major tropical disease journals. He is highly committed to the training and education of junior colleagues from the United States and residents of low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Oceania.