A. Program Objective. With support of the U.S. and Panamanian governments, the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory (GML) was established in Panama in 1928 to commemorate the life and accomplishments of William Crawford Gorgas. The mission of the GML is to improve health in the tropical Americas. GML conducts biomedical research concerning the occurrence, causes, prevention, and treatment of public health problems significant in Panama and other parts of Latin America. B. General Strategy. We have been successful in setting up a firm base for research. The establishment of GML in the Republic of Panama, 60 years ago, provided a self-sufficient physical facility, and an opportunity for scientific personnel to attain an intimate knowledge of the physical and social factors that bear on disease-transmission, and to be accepted by the community with consequent ease of access to hospitals, clinics, and homes. Corollary to this goal, GML has surveyed and continues to identify and to assess the occurrence and importance of diseases in the area. This is done to prevent spread of disease within Panama and into Central and North America, and to identify aspects of the public health requiring study or representing opportunities for research. GML research programs address the important public health and clinical problems. They encompass population-based field studies supported by modern laboratory methods, and experimental and clinical investigations. This Core Grant Application is submitted to support programs in cervical cancer and papillomavirus, malaria drug evaluation in the monkey model (Aotus), other studies on malaria, clinical characterization and chemotherapy of cutaneous leishmaniasis, dengue surveillance, influenza, and tropical biology. Some of these programs receive grant/contract support in addition to that requested here. Additional programs involving human T-cell lymphoma virus, candidate herpes virus vaccines, and neonatal toxoplasmosis are supported by grants and contracts but require some additional support from the core requested.
