Dr Htin Lin Aung, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Cook Lab, is leading the first joint Myanmar-New Zealand health research project, as a part of his mission to improve diagnostic procedures and develop a better treatment for multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (Tb).
After initial steps taken by Anna Sui, wife of the now-Second Vice-President of Myanmar, Henry Van Thio, Dr Aung has played a lead role in establishing a unique collaboration between the University of Otago and the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sport’s National Tuberculosis Programme. The research has three years’ Health Research Council (HRC) funding worth $450,000.
Dr Aung, who originates from Yangon, Myanmar, hopes to be able to eventually alleviate the increasing burden on his home country posed by tuberculosis.
"I had my training here ... Now, the university and the New Zealand Government, through the HRC, support me to do this research in my home country,’’ Dr Aung says.
Read the full story on the Otago Daily Times website
Dr Htin Lin Aung (centre), with collaborative partners Professor Greg Cook (Department of Microbiology and Immunology), left, and Professor Philip Hill (Otago Centre for International Health co-director), right.
