London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Abstract: Tuberculosis is a leading cause of global childhood mortality however epidemiological knowledge of pediatric tuberculosis lags far behind that of adult tuberculosis. As a consequence, pragmatic approaches to guide case-finding and prevention strategies for young children in high-burden settings are lacking. This presentation describes two recent prospective cohort studies from sub-Saharan Africa that investigate pediatric tuberculosis. The first, a birth cohort study a few miles outside Cape Town, aimed to prospectively evaluate the burden of tuberculin conversion and primary progressive disease in the first five years of life in a setting with hyperendemic rates of HIV and tuberculosis. The second, a household contact study in Kampala, Uganda, evaluated the World Health Organization’s pragmatic symptom-based approach intended to maximize tuberculosis case detection in children exposed to tuberculosis in their household

About the speaker: Dr. Leonardo Martinez is the first recipient of the Stephen Lawn Memorial Lecture Prize and will be coming to LSHTM for the Memorial Lecture on 23 March. Dr Martinez will present his work during a seminar on 20 March. Leonardo Martinez is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Jason Andrews at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Leo’s research focuses on deriving and validating effective interventions to diagnose and prevent pediatric tuberculosis, furthering our understanding of tuberculosis transmission dynamics in settings with a high burden of HIV and tuberculosis, and advocating for the implementation of effective health policy in low-income communities with a high tuberculosis burden.

From early in his career to today, Leo has been inspired by Dr. Lawn’s extensive scientific contributions to the field of HIV and tuberculosis, as well as his passion for reducing the disease and mortality burden in impoverished settings.