Mentoring patient-oriented research on point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases

This midcareer investigator award in patient-oriented research is intended to provide the candidate, Dr. Paul Drain, MD, MPH; Associate Professor at the University of Washington (UW), with protected time to develop a structured and effective approach for research mentorship. He is Director of Clinical Research for the International Clinical Research Center in UW’s Department of Global Health, and Director of the Clinical Core for the Seattle Tuberculosis Research Advancement Center (Sea-TRAC). His clinical research group has been conducting diagnostic studies and clinical trials to advance rapid point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and SARS-CoV-2. His research activities are grounded in clinical epidemiology and implementation science frameworks to evaluate a central hypothesis that improved diagnostic screening and testing methods, including novel point-of-care technologies, can advance clinical care and patient- centered outcomes for infectious diseases. However, the design of novel clinical studies, implementation science frameworks, use of mobile technologies, and development of machine learning and AI-guided algorithms have been rapidly evolving for patient-oriented research in the recent years. His research program and group are supported by 3 R01-funded studies, as well as several grants from the Gates Foundation and industry sponsors. From these ongoing and upcoming studies, he will develop a structured research mentoring program with three mentor-specific aims: (1) to identify and support emerging leaders to pursue patient-oriented research, (2) to develop a structured patient-oriented research mentorship program, and (3) to foster mentee research by facilitating access to exiting clinical datasets and advanced statistical research methods. He will also seek to advance patient-oriented research with three research-specific aims: (1) to define the value of diagnostics when implemented for various infections and indications, (2) to assess the demand and acceptance for using rapid diagnostics in community and home-based settings, (3) to utilize machine learning, AI-guided algorithms, and decision-analytic modeling to advance frameworks and utilization of novel point-of-care diagnostics for screening and testing. Achieving these aims will significantly advance his career and his mentees, while providing important contributions to the field of diagnostics. Expanding his capacity to mentor trainees in using the existing clinical studies will help strengthen the next generation of clinical researchers for global health and infectious diseases. This work will lead to a series of future proposed clinical studies and grant applications that will seek to further advance diagnostic technologies and testing to have a maximal impact on reducing morbidity/mortality for HIV, TB, malaria, and diseases of global importance. Project Number: 1K24AI198098-01 | Fiscal Year: 2026 | NIH Institute/Center: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) | Principal Investigator: Paul Drain | Institution: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE, WA | Award Amount: $209,758 | Activity Code: K24 | Study Section: Special Emphasis Panel[ZRG1 F17B-Q (20)] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1K24AI19809801