Ohio University-Zanesville’s Higazi heads to Guatemala & Sudan

Tarig Higazi, assistant professor of biological sciences at Ohio University-Zanesville, will be spending the summer in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Tampa, Fl, and Khartoum, Sudan. He will be a consultant for The Carter Center/Global 2000 for their Sudan National Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Elimination Program.

As an expert in the field of Onchocerciasis epidemiology and molecular biology and with his experience with the disease in Sudan, Higazi was chosen to oversee The Carter Center’s operations in Sudan and provide technical and quality control for the program.

During his summer research project, Higazi will discuss the Guatemalan Onchocerciasis elimination experience and transfer that research to Sudan. To ensure broadest impact Higazi will also discuss the progress and future plans of the overseas programs with Professor Tom Unnasch at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

The Carter Center is committed to advancing human rights and alleviating unnecessary human suffering. The Atlanta, Georgia-based center helps to improve the quality of life for people in more than 70 countries. Activities of the Carter Center, and Higazi’s research work, have contributed significantly to the reduction of the disease in South America. The team is poised to do the same in east Africa and Guatemala.

Higazi, who worked toward his Ph. D. in Abu Hamed, Sudan, has been involved in Onchocerciasis research since the early 1990s and has published articles on the subject. He brings his real-life research experience to the undergraduate students at Ohio University-Zanesville, where he has taught since 2006.

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