Module Head – Molecular
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Chief, Malaria Section, Centre for Vaccine Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Professor of Medicine, of Microbiology and Immunology, and of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist
Best known for his work on the molecular epidemiology of drug resistant malaria, Dr Plowe leads a multidisciplinary clinical translational malaria research program with field sites in Mali and Malawi. Working with African colleagues, his group at the University of Maryland developed rapid molecular assays to detect drug resistant malaria using dried blood spots on paper. These tests have been used to understand the population genetics of malaria and to control malaria outbreaks and inform treatment policy decisions. Dr Plowe’s work encompasses malaria drug resistance, molecular epidemiology, molecular evolution, rapid diagnostics, pathogenesis, immunology, international research ethics, interactions between HIV and malaria, and clinical trials of drugs and vaccines. His group is currently concentrating on understanding and mitigating the impact of genetic diversity on malaria vaccine efficacy and on developing strategies to deter the emergence and spread of drug resistant malaria. With colleagues in Mali, he has also designed and led several clinical trials of malaria vaccines. Dr Plowe divides his time between his laboratories in Baltimore, the Bandiagara Malaria Project in Mali and the Blantyre Malaria Project in Malawi, and is developing new collaborations in Southeast Asia. Dr Plowe completed fellowships in Malaria Research at the National Institutes of Health, USA and in Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University. He has received a Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award and the Bailey K Ashford Medal for distinguished work in tropical medicine from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Dr Plowe is the author of more than 100 publications on malaria.
Education
1991 MPH (Tropical Medicine), Columbia University School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
1986 MD, Cornell University Medical College, Ithaca, NY, USA
1982 BA (Philosophy), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Professional Associations
Member, American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene
Member, American Committee on Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers’ Health
Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation
Representative Publications
Plowe C, Alonso P, Hoffman S. The potential role of vaccines of falciparum in the elimination of falciparum malaria and the eventual eradication of malaria. Journal of Infectious Diseases 2009; 200:1646-9.
Takala S, Coulibaly D, Thera M, Batchelor A, Cummings M, Escalante A, Ouattara A, Traore K, Niangaly A, Djimde A, Doumbo O, Plowe C. Extreme polymorphism in a vaccine antigen and risk of clinical malaria: Implications for vaccine development. Science Translational Medicine 2009; 1:2ra5.
Laufer ML, Djimdé AA, Plowe CV. Monitoring and deterring drug resistant malaria in the era of combination therapy. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2008; 77(Suppl 6):160-169.
Plowe CV, Roper C, Barnwell JW, Happi CT, Joshi HH, Mbacham W, Meshnick SR, Mugittu K, Naidoo I, Price RN, Shafer RW, Sibley CH, Sutherland CJ, Zimmerman PA, Rosenthal PJ. World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN) III: molecular markers for drug resistant malaria. Malaria Journal 2007; 6:121.
Nyunt M, Plowe C. Pharmacologic advances in the global control and treatment of malaria: combination therapy and resistance. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics 2007; 82:601-5.
Laufer MK, Thesing PC, Eddington N, Masonga R, Dzinjalamala F, Takala SL, Taylor T, Plowe CV. Return of chloroquine anti-malaria efficacy in Malawi. New England Journal of Medicine 2006; 355:1959-1966.
Kublin J, Dzinjalamala FK, Kamwendo D, Malkin E, Cortese J, Martino L, Mukadam R, Rogerson S, Lescano A, Molyneux M, Winstanley P, Chimpeni P, Taylor TE, Plowe CV. Molecular markers for treatment failure of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine and chlorproguanil-dapsone for falciparum malaria and a model for practical application in Africa. Journal of Infectious Diseases 2002; 185:380-388.
Djimdé A, Doumbo OK, Cortese J, Kayentao K, Doumbo S, Diourté Y, Coulibaly D, Dicko A, Su X, Fidock D, Nomura T, Wellems TE, Plowe CV. A molecular marker for chloroquine resistant falciparum malaria. New England Journal of Medicine 2001; 344:257-263.
