Established in 2008 to honor Dr. George W. Comstock’s lifetime of work in public health and tuberculosis control, this annual lecture given by distinguished leaders addresses important public health issues in global tuberculosis control. This annual lecture is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology, The Center for Tuberculosis Research and the JHU TRAC.

NeIL MARTINSON, MBBCh, MPH

Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Executive Director, Perinatal HIV Research Unit, Soweto, South Africa

Prof Neil Martinson MBBCh, MPH has worked for 23 years as a  clinical epidemiologist and trialist at PHRU in Soweto, affiliated to the University of the Witwatersrand after graduating with a Fogarty-funded MPH at JHU.  His primary research focus is  TB and its interactions with HIV. He has undertaken large clinical and cluster-randomised trials of treatments and interventions to combat TB (and influenza and SARS-CoV-2), and to aid PLWH to quit smoking.   He is the PI of a South African Grand Challenge study to use computer vision to report cervical biopsies in women whose biopsy was related to a screening HPV test and is piloting the implementation of wearables for in-patients to predict clinical deterioration in adults and children admitted to general wards.   He has designed and implemented several universal testing studies for TB in diverse populations including: pregnant women;  the TUTT Trial in 62 clinics in South Africa; and currently the TUTTPlus study and TUTTPT trial.   He has curated large datasets suitable for machine learning which have been used by masters students at several universities.  Dr Martinson was a PI of a Fogarty International Center grant, which trained multiple post-graduate students and provided epidemiology training for over 100 clinical scientists, many of whom have established their own careers in HIV- or TB-related research. He has established new clinical research sites in Botshabelo, Free State Province, Matlosana, North West Province and Mukhado and Polokwane, Limpopo Province.

The 16th Annual George W. Comstock Lecture will be part of the 2025 JHU World TB Day events at the JHU School of Nursing, 525 N. Wolfe Street. Add to Calendar.

JHU TRAC World TB Day Agenda

11-12 pm ET: The RePORT International Coordinating Center Early Stage Investigators session
Speakers include: Beatriz Barreto-Duarte, MD, PhD, Mandar Paradkar, MBBS, MPH, Felipe Ridolfi, MD, PhD | School of Nursing Auditorium

12-1 pm ET: 16th Annual George W. Comstock Lecture
“Ending TB Can’t Be Business As Usual”
Neil Martinson, MBBCh, MPH

1:15 pm ET: Livestream & Lunch: Join us for a livestream of the UCSF Inter-TRAC World TB Day ESI Collaboration – Next Generation of Researchers Tackling TB
Speakers include: Manish Gupta PhD (JHU TRAC). Learn more about the UCSF WTBD events here. Zoom link for this session provided through UCSF.

  Joining virtually? Register for the Zoom link here.