Jessica Lin is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases.
What is your clinical expertise?
I have a special interest in travel and tropical medicine, but I also enjoy seeing general infectious disease and HIV patients.
Tell us about your current role in the Department of Medicine.
I am an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases. I spend one day a week seeing patients in the Infectious Diseases Clinic and 6 weeks per year rounding with residents and fellows on the inpatient services. Most of the rest of my time is focused on malaria research as part of the IDEEL@UNC lab group in the UNC School of Public Health. IDEEL stands for Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology and Ecology Lab. This means writing papers and grant proposals, interacting with students and technicians working with me in the lab, brainstorming new projects with other IDEEL investigators, and traveling to meet with my collaborators in Southeast Asia. I also advise the UNC medical student ID interest group and give lectures to medical students, residents, and fellows. I am myself finishing up a master’s degree in clinical research in the Department of Epidemiology.
What current project or initiative at UNC are you involved in that you are excited about?
I was grateful to receive a UNC Explorations in Global Health Grant to start a new research collaboration with the Eijkman Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia. We are gathering genetic data on parasites from a very unique cohort of patients with relapses due to vivax malaria. So little is known about the ability of vivax parasites to reactivate from latent liver stages, yet the key to eliminating malaria in Southeast Asia (and many other parts of the world) lies in better ways to identify and treat those at risk for vivax relapse.
Closer to home, I recently met with colleagues Dr. Kamal Henderson and Dr. Chuck Hicks from the UNC Cardiology Department to discuss developing a multidisciplinary approach to managing endocarditis. Endocarditis is infection of the heart valves. It carries a high mortality and the toughest cases require expertise across the specialties of infectious diseases, cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery.
What do you love most about UNC?
I love that we are the state hospital – that patients come from all over North Carolina to see us, and I don’t have to worry about their ability to pay as I’m figuring out how to deliver the best care possible. I love the dedication of the community of physicians and staff within our clinic and in the larger hospital.