Alumni

Dr. John Jacob, a 2010 graduate of the school and currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, the University of Hawaii, Hilo:

Dr. Jacob through his research has overturned the conventional wisdom regarding the treatment of rat lungworm disease, a parasitical invasion to the brain that has long troubled tropical areas such as Hawaii.

Conventionally, medical practitioners in Hawaii have not treated the disease with anti-parasite medication for fear that if the parasite is in the brain and is killed, a more intense inflammatory response will be triggered, which would make treatment more complicated. Dr Jacob questioned that belief.

“I attended a seminar in graduate school and heard the speaker say that there is no approved treatment for rat lungworm disease. I thought, why not? There are treatments for other brain parasitic infections. Why is this one so special?

Through his research involving 1034 patients and 2561 experimental animals, he convincingly demonstrated that anti-parasitic drugs, and albendazole in particular, were quite safe and effective in treating rat lungworm disease. His landmark study published in prestigious journals from Oxford and Cambridge Universities has transformed treatment of the disease in Hawaii.