Infectious disease expert Laura Gibson, MD’94, honored as WBJ champion of health care

Laura Gibson, MD’94, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at UMass Chan Medical School, is among the first to be honored with a Central Mass Champions of Health Care Award from the Worcester Business Journal. The award honors those in health care “who are excelling in helping others, promoting innovation or improving access to care,” according to the WBJ.

Dr. Gibson will receive the award at the WBJ’s annual health care forum Dec. 13 at the College of the Holy Cross’ Hogan Campus Center.

Gibson’s leadership in infectious disease and immunology research, particularly her work on cytomegalovirus (CMV), highlights her qualifications for the award.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of the U.S. population has had a CMV infection by age 40, but most people haven’t heard of the virus, how it spreads, and its risks in pregnancy. The virus can spread from pregnant women to their unborn children, a condition known as congenital CMV infection (cCMV). A major source of infectious CMV is the saliva and urine of young children who were recently infected, particularly those who attend large group childcare.  Simple measures when caring for a young child during pregnancy—such as not sharing food or dishes with a child, kissing a child on the head not on the mouth or nose, and washing hands after diaper changes—can reduce contact with infectious saliva and urine and therefore the risk of getting CMV, Gibson said.  

CMV is the most common infectious cause of birth defects. Infants with cCMV are at risk for microcephaly and abnormal neurodevelopment, including hearing loss. Overall, nearly 20 percent of infants with cCMV have long term disabilities from the virus.

“I’m so excited about the role this award will play in continuing to raise awareness of congenital CMV and the need for education and screening,” said Gibson. “I’m incredulous and grateful to be chosen for the award from such an incredible cohort.”

Gibson has worked for years to raise cCMV awareness and support universal newborn CMV screening. In 2017, she worked with a multidisciplinary group from UMass Memorial and Baystate Health to develop a congenital CMV screening program. The protocol includes targeted screening of babies who fail the newborn hearing screen before hospital discharge and universal screening for all babies born at or less than 34 weeks gestation. 

In 2019, Gibson helped launch the Massachusetts Congenital CMV Coalition, a nonprofit organization focused on CMV education, advocacy and resources for families and health care providers. In 2021, the coalition worked with Massachusetts legislators to file a state bill for prenatal CMV education and universal CMV screening. Following completion of a fiscal impact report, the bills (S.1405/H.2218) were refiled in 2023 and a public hearing was held Nov. 15 at the State House.

Earlier this year, Gibson authored an article about CMV for The Conversation, which has reached more than 14 million people and garnered more than 20,000 views on social media.

In addition to her research on CMV and other viruses that live with people across the lifespan, during the COVID-19 pandemic Gibson was co-lead for the National Institutes of Health’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Tech Clinical Studies Core, which oversaw studies across the country for novel point-of-care devices to test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.