Michael Boivin, Ph.D., M.P.H. research study referenced in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Newsletter

The 5-year NIH/NIEHS R01 project in the prevention of *konzo disease in the DR Congo is led by Dr. Desire Tshala-Katumbay, at Oregon Health and Sciences University and the University of Kinshasa.  Professor Boivin serves as a co-investigator, guiding the neurodevelopmental and neuropsychological assessment capacity building and research protocols for this study.  The February 2018 online newsletter mentions the MSU-AAP substudy that Professor Boivin leads, which is focused on preventing konzo in very young children.  Within a more comprehensive early childhood development training program (implemented in Professor Boivin's NIH-sponsored clinical trial research in Uganda), Professor Boivin's MSU-AAP substudy embeds a training program for mothers to learn how to detoxify their cassava flour.

*Konzo is a neuromotor and neuropsychological disease from the cyanide toxicity in poorly processed cassava flour, which is the basic food staple in many part of the Congo basin.