Darren Creek, Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) (2002) PhD (2007)

Malaria causes one million deaths a year, the vast majority young children living in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

Monash researcher Darren Creek took time out to travel to Uganda to do volunteer work in a rural hospital after completing his PhD in the laboratories of Professors Susan and Bill Charman, leading international researchers in affordable and effective antimalarials.

“My work was based at a clinic in the rural town of Tororo and mainly dealt with HIV and malaria. The Tororo district suffers from very high malaria transmission, with an estimated 562 infectious mosquito bites per person and hundreds of children dying every year.

“Travelling to a centre with such as high incidence of malaria was a jolt after three years in the research labs of the Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation, but I had the task of collecting data to investigate various aspects of HIV and malaria and the interactions of the drugs used to treat these diseases.

“International funding has improved access to HIV management in Africa, including distribution of anti-retrovirals and prophylactic antibiotics. The study was designed to investigate the impact of these medications on malaria incidence, treatment and the development of immunity.”

As a researcher, Dr Creek saw 350 individual malaria patients who were all successfully treated by following international guidelines that recommend artemisinin-combination therapy (ACT).

“Unfortunately, many Ugandans cannot access or afford ACT and use older, cheaper drugs that are ineffective because of drug-resistant parasites.

“This is just one of the many frustrations working in a developing country where poverty, inequality, poor infrastructure and limited education affect so many aspects of life.

“Thankfully, I had an opportunity to improve this situation in a small way, not only by direct contribution, but perhaps more importantly through my PhD work with the centre back in Melbourne, which will hopefully lead to the availability of cheaper alternatives to ACT that would make treatment more accessible to those who need it.”

Darren graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) in 2002. He completed his internship year at the Royal Melbourne Hospital then commenced his PhD in 2004 at the Centre for Drug Candidate Optimisation. There he worked on the internationally-recognised peroxide antimalarial project, funded by the Medicines for Malaria Venture based in Switzerland. In 2010 he took up a postdoctoral research project at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, on African sleeping sickness.