Peter Hyson, M.D.’18, M.A., Green and Gold Early Career Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont and infectious disease specialist at the UVM Medical Center, has received a $150,000 Emerging Leader Award from the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. The award was presented at the foundation’s annual LymeAid gala over Memorial Day weekend.
The Bay Area Lyme Foundation is the leading public charity sponsor of innovative Lyme and tick-borne disease research in the United States.
Developing New Therapies
With approximately 60 percent of black-legged ticks in Vermont testing positive for a tick-borne disease, Vermonters are at high risk for infection. Dr. Hyson will use the funding to advance research into babesiosis, a tick-borne blood infection caused by Babesia parasites. He has identified a promising new class of compounds against Babesia and is working to confirm their drug target to advance development of new therapies. If approved, this would represent the first drug created specifically for treatment of babesiosis.
“Babesiosis is a tick-borne disease which is becoming more common both in Vermont and nationwide for which existing medicines are inadequate,” Hyson said. “I worry about my neighbors or my kids getting this infection because standard of care treatment isn’t always effective and relapsing cases can develop. For the last four years, my team has been working with Babesia parasites in the lab, developing new experimental tools and discovering new drug candidates for this disease.”
“I worry about my neighbors or my kids getting this infection because standard of care treatment isn’t always effective and relapsing cases can develop.” — Peter Hyson, M.D.’18, M.A.
In addition to babesiosis and Lyme disease, there are other tick-borne diseases. According to the Vermont Department of Health, Babesia, Anaplasmosis, Powassan virus, Erlichiosis, and other tick-borne pathogens have been found in the state. While Lyme disease is the most common, cases of anaplasmosis and babesiosis have increased dramatically over the past 10 years. There is no “tick season” in Vermont—tick-borne diseases are diagnosed all 12 months of the year.
Accelerating Innovative Approaches, Generating Insights
Launched in 2014, the Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s Emerging Leader Award supports high-impact, proof-of-concept research aimed at advancing new diagnostics and treatments for Lyme and related diseases. Each $150,000 award is designed to accelerate innovative approaches and generate insights that can improve patient care.
The program supports early- to mid-career researchers—from postdoctoral fellows to associate professors—who demonstrate strong potential to drive progress in the field, including scientists entering tick-borne disease research from related disciplines.
The annual LymeAid gala brings together leading scientists and clinicians, patients, and supporters united by a shared conviction: Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections should not be hard to diagnose, hard to treat, or easy to dismiss, and the science to change that is within reach.
Read media coverage of this research.
Research like this has contributed to the University of Vermont’s designation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as an R1 institution, placing it in the top tier of research universities in the U.S.
