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Dr Cindy Chu

Dr Cindy Chu

Contact information


cindy@tropmedres.ac
cchumd@gmail.com

Borders

The Mekong River between Lao PDR and Thailand
The Moei River between Thailand and Myanmar

Cindy Chu

Senior clinical researcher

  • LOMWRU paediatric pneumonia team lead

Bio

Cindy Chu is an internal medicine and paediatrics (IM/Paeds) physician working in the southeast Asia region since 2006. Her humanitarian work supporting clinical residency training in Lao PDR led her to the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) at Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU) in Thailand where she began conducting Plasmodium vivax treatment trials under the tutelage of Professors Sir Nicholas White and François Nosten. She is now based at the Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit (LOMWRU) in Lao PDR.

Her initial research focused on optimising the efficacy and effectiveness of primaquine (an 8-aminoquinoline prescribed for 7 to 14 days) for Plasmodium vivax radical cure and the intersection with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) status.

Since the regulatory approval of tafenoquine, a single-dose 8-aminoquinoline agent, her research has shifted towards optimising tafenoquine dosing and expanding tafenoquine's role in P. vivax radical cure for patients of all ages. This aligns with her aspiration to improve health in populations in low middle income countries by improving health care delivery.

SEADOT study

Study participant takes tafenoquine for radical cure of P. vivax malaria
The Southeast Asia Dose Optimisation of Tafenoquine (SEADOT) study aims to optimise single-dose tafenoquine for P. vivax radical cure in regions with short latency relapse. Adults and children at least 2 years old weighing at least 10 kg with P. vivax malaria are recruited and followed for 4 months. The study is being conducted in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Primaquine in G6PD heterozygotes

Primaquine induced haemolysis in G6PD heterozygous females
Iatrogenic haemolysis from primaquine is dose dependent; in red 1mg/kg/day (7-day short course high dose) and in orange 0.5mg/kg/day (standard high dose). G6PD heterozygotes who have normal G6PD activity (>30%) develop large fractional haematocrit reductions. Circled individuals received a blood transfusion.

Publications