Speakers

Dr. Edouard Vannier is an expert on babesiosis. For the past two decades, he has co-authored chapters in major medical textbooks such as Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine and Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. He has contributed to the 2020 IDSA Guideline on the diagnosis and management of babesiosis. Dr. Vannier obtained a PharmD degree and a PhD degree from the Université René Descartes in Paris, France. While in graduate school, he moved to Tufts Medical Center where he joined the laboratory of Dr. Charles Dinarello, the discoverer of interleukin-1β. When he became independent, he turned his attention to babesiosis. Taking a forward genetic approach, he identified a novel gene as a major determinant of severe babesiosis in mice. He seeks to implicate this locus in human babesiosis. While studying the immune response, Dr. Vannier identified a small set of parasite proteins that become antibody reactive as the infection resolves. He is testing whether immunization with these proteins confers protection. In recent years, Dr. Vannier has become interested in antimicrobial resistance in the context of relapsing babesiosis. His research also concerns the use of the antimalarial tafenoquine for prophylaxis and treatment of babesiosis.