We choose ... to improve treatment of a neglected deadly disease
For the past 15 years, Thuy Le, M.D., Ph.D., has spearheaded a relentless campaign to bring attention and resources to fighting talaromycosis, a rare fungal disease that occurs most commonly in patients with advanced AIDS. Caused by an opportunistic infection of a fungus endemic to tropical regions in Southeast Asia, the disease kills one in four patients with the infection, making timely diagnosis and treatment critical to saving the lives of its victims.
Le, an infectious disease specialist who first encountered talaromycosis while working in HIV wards in Vietnam, led the first clinical trial of talaromycosis patients, establishing treatment guidelines that have helped cut mortality from the disease in half. This year, her team published results of research into improved diagnostics, which could significantly reduce the time it takes doctors to confirm the disease and begin treating it.
But Le’s biggest impact may be through her tireless efforts to bring attention and investment to neglected fungal diseases like talaromycosis. She was instrumental in convincing the World Health Organization in 2022 to publish its first list of fungal priority pathogens, which led to increased research funding from the National Institutes of Health and others.
While cuts in NIH research funding have slowed the momentum, Le is undeterred, noting that virtually no funding existed for these diseases when she began her research. “Over the past 15 years, we’ve made significant progress despite this being a disease that few people have heard of,” Le says. “We’ve been able to rally funders and others to help us make that progress, and I am hopeful we will weather this storm and see that work continue.”
Read more about Le’s research on faster diagnostics, and why she expects fungal diseases to become an even greater threat to human health in the future, in DGHI’s July 2025 article.
