His low-cost, rapid detection device to diagnose malaria could save many thousands of lives in the developing world. Brian Grimberg’s path to becoming a world-renowned malaria expert is the stuff of a Hollywood dream-come-true biopic: The film opens with a close-up of a curious little boy hunched over a science book – just one from a wobbly, towering stack perched behind him. Dissolve scene to a teacher with a benevolent smile, sharing her collection of science filmstrips and books with the boy, who places each one into his backpack. Cut to a modern-day sequence with this boy turned 40-something-man, now hunched over a small machine in a remote Kenyan village. The machine’s parts move like miniature pistons on a locomotive, pushing toward and pulling away from a blood sample. Mosquitoes circle the scientist, but he’s unfazed. His focus is on the little machine and the information it yields: a blood sample that tests positive for malaria. “I’ve wanted to do this job since I was eight years old,” says the affable Grimberg, assistant professor of International Health, from his office in the Biomedical Research Building at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He became an assistant professor there in 2009 and moved with his family to Shaker’s Onaway neighborhood, drawn by its proximity to work and great schools. SHAKER LIFE | WINTER 2017 43 By Jennifer Kuhel BRIAN GRIMBERG
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