WashU Medicine researcher Makedonka Mitreva, PhD, received the 2026 Henry Baldwin Ward Medal. The highest honor awarded by the American Society of Parasitologists, the Ward Medal is given annually to a mid-career member of the society who has achieved a position of leadership in independent parasitological research.
Mitreva, who is the Gordon R. Miller Professor of Medicine in the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases, was recognized for her use of genetics and genomics to understand parasitic worms. Such worms infect over 1 billion people worldwide, particularly in low-income regions.
Leading up to the first successful genetic modification of the human hookworm, which Mitreva and her team reported earlier this year, Mitreva conducted more than two decades of worm genomics research at WashU Medicine. By comparing the complete genetic blueprints of dozens of worm species, including the hookworm, she and her collaborators revealed how these worms invade the body, survive inside it and resist treatment.
Mitreva has turned that foundational knowledge into practical tools, exemplified by the breadth of her research portfolio that includes promising new drug candidates that could work against multiple harmful worm species at once; genetic tests that reveal whether a treated patient has been reinfected or was never fully cured, and whether they are infected with resistant parasite; and an experimental approach that engineers worms to manufacture and deliver medicine inside the body, with applications ranging from treating chronic diseases to protecting hosts from exposure to toxins in remote settings.
Mitreva received the award at the annual meeting of the American Society of Parasitologists in Orlando, Fla., on July 29.