ASCI / Emerging-Generation Awards, 2024
The Emerging Generation Awards (E-Gen Awards) recognize post-MD, pre-faculty appointment physician-scientists who are meaningfully engaged in immersive research.
About the awardee
Wilfredo R. Matias, MD, MPH is a physician-scientist fellow in infectious diseases and global health at Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School, and the MGH Center for Global Health. He studied Biology and Romance Languages at New York University, and medicine at Harvard Medical School. He completed clinical training in the Global Health Equity Residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, where he served as Chief Resident and received an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Matias’ work over the last decade has used epidemiologic and translational approaches to design, implement and evaluate programs that respond to epidemic infectious diseases such as cholera, HIV and COVID-19 in underserved settings, with the goal of improving global health equity. His early work began in Haiti, where under the mentorship of Dr. Louise Ivers he supported the implementation of the first cholera vaccine campaign in Haiti, evaluated vaccine effectiveness, and led the establishment of a national diarrheal diseases reference laboratory. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he conducted research in Massachusetts that provided seroepidemiologic evidence of COVID-19 disparities and validated rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19. He has been recognized and supported by awards from the US Fulbright Program, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, among others.
Currently, Dr. Matias continues to work between the US and Hispaniola, taking care of patients and conducting research to optimize the cholera response in Haiti and the care of migrants with HIV in the Dominican Republic.