Non-communicable disease Non-communicable disease A non-communicable disease (NCD) is a disease that is not transmissible directly from one person to another. NCDs include Parkinson's disease, autoimmune diseases, strokes, most heart diseases, most cancers, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts, and others. NCDs may be chronic or acute. Most are non-infectious, although there are some non-communicable infectious diseases, such as parasitic diseases in which the parasite's life cycle does not include direct host-to-host transmission. NCDs are the leading cause of death globally. In 2012, they caused 68% of all deaths (38 million) up from 60% in 2000. About half were
Center for Infectious Disease Research president and director. The organization's name was changed to the Center for Infectious Disease Research in April 2015 to better reflect its focus. Its merger with Seattle Children's Research Institute was announced in July 2018 and finalized on Oct. 1. The Center for Infectious Disease Research performed research on four areas of infectious disease:HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and Emerging & Neglected Diseases (END) like African sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and toxoplasmosis. Seattle is a hub for global health research, and in July 2012, Seattle Magazine honored two Seattle BioMed leaders (Dr. Stuart and Theresa Britschgi, Director of BioQuest) as