Research Roundup: What we’re reading this week

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

Rajiv Shah, administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has released his second annual letter, outlining major issues and initiatives that have shaped the agency since its inception 50 years ago. In the letter, Shah emphasizes the role of science, technology, and innovation in meeting USAID’s international health goals.

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative has received an award from the Wellcome Trust to develop a promising drug to treat Chagas disease being tested in adult patients in Bolivia.

The National Institutes of Health and the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company have announced that they will produce a publicly available resource to profile the effects of thousands of approved and investigational medicines. The resource aims to make drug development pipelines more productive and efficient.

The winner of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s 2012 Win-a-Trip Contest names global health technologies as her passion.