Boni selected to receive 2023 Faculty Scholar Medal
Maciej Boni, associate professor of biology, is one of five Penn State faculty members to receive a 2023 Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement. Established in 1980, the award recognizes scholarly or creative excellence represented by a single contribution or a series of contributions around a coherent theme. A committee of peers reviews nominations and selects candidates.
Boni has made major contributions to the prediction and management of infectious disease, nominators said. His research focuses on COVID-19, influenza and malaria.
“Boni has made major contributions to prediction and mitigation for a wide range of critical diseases, including malaria, influenza and COVID-19,” a nominator said. “He is a world-class scientist who has contributed greatly to shaping public health policy globally and who has shown a strong commitment to public engagement.”
Boni’s research has helped to better understand the origins of COVID-19. One highly cited study found that SARS-CoV-2, the source for the COVID-19 pandemic, had been circulating in bats undetected for decades before emerging as a global threat in 2019. Nominators called his findings “of intense scientific and public interest.” He earned the Faculty Scholar Medal in Life and Health Sciences.
“Understanding the origins of this virus is helping to shape management plans for preventing virus spillover events in the future and to dispel conspiracy theories in the popular press about a possible laboratory origin of SARS-CoV-2,” a nominator said. “Like most scientists with his skill set, Boni shifted much of his research and service focus to COVID-19, publishing a range of studies. He also frequently communicated with the public through the media, advised school districts on decision-making to limit disease transmission, and assisted Rhode Island and Massachusetts in a plan for effectively managing the use of their hospital beds during the pandemic.”
Boni uses mathematical modeling to understand disease dynamics. An area he’s had an impact is researching the evolution of drug resistance to the malaria parasite, a research realm with tremendous global health implications. Nominators said his research used sophisticated modeling techniques to assess optimal strategies for malaria therapies. Boni’s work showed how resistance to the powerful anti-malaria drug artemisinin can be countered by using different drugs and strategies. His work directly influenced the World Health Organization’s (WHO) approach to the disease.
Boni also looks at influenza, specifically how small-scale poultry farmers respond to avian flu outbreaks, which can devastate farmers and increase food prices. Avian flu also has the potential to jump to the human population, which could lead to a pandemic, and his research has shown that current avian flu responses elevate the risk of a pandemic.
“This research is an example of how his data-led approaches are being used to inform and effectively guide disease management policies,” a nominator said.
Boni’s work, which has attracted the attention of WHO, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust, shows that the history of diseases can tell us much about the future of diseases, nominators said. They also praised Boni’s spirit of collaboration, particularly his former colleagues in Vietnam, who work with him tracking influenza.
“Boni is a star in the field of infectious disease epidemiology and his research is a very important contributor to the visibility of Penn State,” a nominator said.