Journal Article

Aliasgar Esmail: innovation in TB and HIV research and medicine

Prasad, Aarathi

2025

Overview

“During medical school, I came across a professor who introduced me to research—up until that point, I was content with being an excellent clinician, but that was the moment when I realised that I was missing out on making a larger impact on the population at large”, recalls Assistant Professor Aliasgar Esmail, Pulmonologist at the Groote Schuur Hospital and Deputy Head of the Centre for Lung Infection and Immunity at the University of Cape Town (UCT) Lung Institute in South Africa. In Esmail's study, he “took a portable version of the Gene Xpert test, a PCR-based test for TB, into the community, finding patients with early symptoms of TB, and showing that although Gene Xpert only picks up about half of the patients with TB, it detects almost all patients who were infectious”. Just as he has done since his very first clinical trial, in his post-doctoral research, Esmail will forefront trust through engagement with communities.

• Publisher: Elsevier Ltd,Elsevier Limited
• Subject: Awards & honors / Bronchopulmonary infection / Clinical medicine / Clinical trials / Community / Lung diseases / Lungs / Medical research / Medicine / Patients / Tuberculosis