Sean Wasserman: rising star in TB-HIV research and medicine

Abstract

Born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1980, Wasserman studied medicine at the University of Cape Town, where his worldview was influenced by a socialist youth group he joined with close associations to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the activist organisation which led the fight for equal access to HIV antiretroviral therapy. Wasserman's research encompasses the potential role of new and repurposed drugs for tuberculosis. [...]recently, the outcomes of drug-resistant TB for patients have been appalling, largely because conventional second-line therapies are ineffective and toxic. [...]repurposed drugs like linezolid have been fast-tracked into treatment guidelines; we need the evidence to catch up”, he explains.