Colley Awarded Christopher Columbus Fellowship

Congratulations to Dan Colley, who was awarded the 2012 Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Distinguished Life Sciences Scientist Award for his research in tropical medicine and parasitology.

Colley has focused for more than 40 years on the immunology of schistosomiasis, a debilitating chronic worm disease that affects 240 million people worldwide, most in the developing world.

Colley, a professor of microbiology, is director of the UGA Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, a center for research and education in parasitic and other global infectious diseases that is comprised of 19 investigators from eight UGA departments.

Colley's pioneering work in parasite immunology is the result of years of research and building partnerships in South America and Africa to study diseases in affected human populations. His commitment to eradicating disease has received wide-ranging support.

In 2008, Colley received a $19-million award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to find ways to identify, control and eliminate schistosomiasis in Africa, the Middle East and the South America. The consortium overseen by Colley, known as Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation, involves partners from around the world. The Gates Foundation award was the third largest in UGA history.

Life Sciences Awards were also given this year to an educator and two high school students working inlife sciences. Congratulations to all and a special note of gratitude to Colley, a valued Franklin College colleague and inspiring scientist whose commitment to his work is an honor to the College and UGA.

Image of Dan Colley courtesy of the University of Georgia.