Individual level Includes Natural History, Health Outcomes, Behavior
Training Faculty
Barbee, Lindley MD MPH
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Dr. Barbee’s research centers on clinical and epidemiological aspects of the prevention and control of sexually transmitted disease, with a particular focus on gonorrhea of the pharynx and rectum. Her current research explores STD self-testing, the natural history of gonorrhea and chlamydia at the pharynx and the rectum, and new treatments for antimicrobial resistant gonorrhea. She also puts research into practice as the Assistant Medical Director at the Public Health – Seattle & King County STD Clinic.
Collier, Ann MD
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Directs the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at UW. Ongoing NIH-supported clinical research projects include studies of antiretroviral therapy for HIV, treatments to manage and/or prevent HIV-associated complications, pathogenesis and treatment of primary HIV infection, and effects of antiretroviral therapy on neurological aspects of HIV infection. Research projects are multi-disciplinary, emphasize importance of collaboration, involve local as well as international collaborators, and include single-center and multicenter studies. While most are prospective, some also involve secondary analyses of prospectively collected clinical data on long-term outcomes of treated HIV infection.
Crane, Heidi MD, MPH
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Dr. Crane is primarily interested in using routine collection of patient-reported outcomes administered by computerized adaptive tests to improve medical care and patient outcomes in patients with HIV. Metabolic, cardiovascular, and other chronic complications of HIV comprise a second research focus. Recent papers examined impact of antiretroviral medications on lipids and differences in statins among HIV-infected individuals. Ongoing studies examine cardiovascular disease risk factors and primary vs. secondary myocardial infarctions among HIV-infected patients.
Drake, Alison PhD MPH
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Dr. Drake’s research focuses on HIV prevention among women and adolescents, incident maternal HIV infections, mother-to-child HIV transmission, adolescent reproductive health, and family planning. Her work uses epidemiology, implementation science, and mobile health tools to conduct observational studies and randomized clinical trials of pregnant and postpartum women in Kenya.
Farquhar, Carey MD, MPH
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Dr. Farquhar’s studies focus on mother-to-child HIV transmission, HIV-discordant couples, and pediatric HIV, and includes implementation science studies assessing HIV testing and partner notification in rural and urban Kenyan communities. She directs the University of Washington AIDS International Training and Research Program which has built research capacity in Kenya, Peru, Uganda, Mozambique and India by funding physicians and scientists for MPH and doctoral degrees and through offering in-country courses on grant writing, mentorship, and research methods.
Graham, Susan MD, MPH, PhD
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Dr. Graham has focused her research on HIV prevention and care in resource-limited settings, particularly as it relates to key populations, including female sex workers and MSM. Her work employs methods from clinical epidemiology, behavioral science, and translational medicine to elucidate risks and evaluate potential intervention to address risks related to HIV/STD transmission and HIV/STD-related morbidity and mortality.
John Stewart, Grace MD MPH PhD
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Dr. John-Stewart’s major research interest is the epidemiology and transmission of HIV-1 infection in Africa. She directs several large cohort studies aimed at defining mechanisms of HIV transmission between sexual partners, from mothers to infants, and pediatric HIV-1 treatment response. Her work also focuses on molecular epidemiology of cofactors for HIV-1 transmission and progression, including the role of co-infections on HIV-1 pathogenesis. Finally, she is leading several projects aimed at assessing programmatic implementation in HIV prevention and treatment, family planning, and maternal child health.
Johnston, Christine MD MPH
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Research interests are focused on pathogenesis of chronic genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. The team’s intensive clinical research protocols utilize the detection of HSV on mucosal surfaces. She has completed a novel study to map the anatomic localization of subclinical genital HSV reactivation, and to characterize the immune response at these sites. Her current projects focus on genital HSV-1 infection which now predominates in incident genital herpes, and untangling the relationship between HSV reactivation and bacterial vaginosis.
Kitahata, Mari MD MPH
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Kitahata established the UW CFAR Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research Core to promote multidisciplinary research aimed at optimizing outcomes for persons living with HIV infection. Her research has elucidated key determinants of survival for HIV-infected persons, including greater physicians’ HIV/AIDS experience and earlier initiation of antiretroviral treatment. She pioneered the design of electronic clinical data systems to standardize and integrate HIV patient data for clinical, translational, and behavioral research, and established networks of national and international HIV research collaborations to address critical questions regarding effectiveness of HIV care.
LaCourse, Sylvia MD MPH
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Dr. LaCourse’s research focuses on improving TB screening and prevention in HIV-infected peripartum women and their children and has multiple ongoing research projects primarily in Kenya.
Dr. LaCourse is a GWACh (Global Women, Adolescent, and Child health) scientific lead, Kenya Research and Training Center (KRTC) faculty member, Tuberculosis Research & Training Center (TRTC) leadership committee member, and TB ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) faculty. She is committed to the inclusion of children and pregnant women in HIV/TB research as an IMPAACT (International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network) TB Scientific Committee mentored junior investigator, and International Union Against TB and Lung Disease Maternal Child Health Working Group Scientific Co-Lead.
Marra, Christina MD
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Research focuses on clinically relevant problems that relate to infections of the central nervous system (CNS), especially in person with HIV. Laboratory-based work concentrates on syphilis and neurosyphilis, studying means to more accurately diagnose, treat, and monitor patients who have syphilis and neurosyphilis, with and without concurrent HIV. Additional studies include determining host and pathogen related factors that increase neurosyphilis risk and the mechanisms underlying those risks, and the impact of concomitant syphilis on HIV-induced CNS injury.
McClelland, R. Scott MD MPH
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Dr. McClelland has conducted research in Kenya since 1998, with a focus on HIV-1 and STD prevention in women in resource-limited settings. He leads the Mombasa HIV/STD Research Group that provides care for high-risk women and conducts HIV prevention and treatment research. The unique ongoing nature of the site and research collaborations support highly productive research projects, with opportunities to provide mentorship for numerous Masters, PhD, and post-doctoral trainees.
Micks, Elizabeth MD MPH
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Dr. Micks studies the relationship between contraception and infectious diseases. She is currently a Women’s Reproductive Health Research scholar in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, working with Drs. Jeanne Marrazzo and Anna Wald on a prospective study evaluating immunologic changes throughout the menstrual cycle and in response to the contraceptive vaginal ring. She is a co-investigator for a wide variety of contraception research spanning different methodologies including health services, epidemiology, and clinical trials.
Pavlinac, Patricia PhD
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Dr. Pavlinac’s research focuses on the role of enteric infections, and the overall gut microbial environment, on morbidity and mortality among children living in high HIV-prevalence settings. Her research is largely based in Kenya, where she is currently leading clinical trials testing whether empiric antibiotics improve post-infection recovery and determining the effect of antibiotics on the gut microbial environmental and antibiotic resistance.
Phipps, Warren MD MPH
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Dr. Phipps’ research focuses on HIV-associated malignancies, with a particular emphasis on human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) virology and the pathogenesis of Kaposi sarcoma (KS), the most common HIV-associated malignancy. Areas of investigation include factors associated with KS presentation and survival outcomes, as well as host and viral gene expression in KS tumors. Dr. Phipps is also leading a mentoring program to develop Ugandan investigators in research of infection-associated malignancies.
Rao, Deepa PhD MA
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Research interests include designing effective interventions to improve mental health and reduce stigma for vulnerable populations worldwide. Dr. Rao conducts work in the United States and in South India, particularly with women. She co-directs the program on Global Mental Health at UW.
Roxby, Alison, MD MSc
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Dr. Roxby is a physician-researcher focused on HIV prevention and improving the reproductive health and survival of African women living with HIV. Her epidemiological and clinical research with HIV-infected pregnant and postpartum women in Kenya includes the role of sexually transmitted infections and vaginal dysbiosis in HIV susceptibility, the role of natural and synthetic reproductive hormones on mucosal immunology specifically affecting HIV acquisition, and understanding inflammation in the female genital tract.
Simoni, Jane PhD MA
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Dr. Simoni is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the development and evaluation of health promotion interventions. Most of her research involves persons living with HIV/AIDS and other populations at risk for health disparities, including sexual and ethnic minorities in the U.S. Specific areas of expertise include medication adherence, HIV diagnosis disclosure, and interventions facilitated via peer support and multi-media technology. Recently, she has expanded her research into global mental health (China and the U.S.-Mexico border, India, and Africa) and the use of nurse-facilitated computer-based
Slyker, Jennifer PhD
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Dr. Slyker’s research focuses on maternal-child HIV infection. She has worked in Kenya since 2000 on studies examining transmission, infant immunity to HIV, herpesvirus co-infections, and disease pathogenesis. Much of her work has focused on the role of cytomegalovirus infection in infants born to HIV-infected women. She also collaborates on implementation science research focused on improving HIV testing services for older children and adolescents.
Stekler, Joanne MD MPH
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Dr. Stekler leads studies investigating novel methods to diagnose acute and early HIV infection, comparisons of rapid HIV tests, and home self-testing for HIV infection. Dr. Stekler’s research in the UW Primary Infection Clinic focuses on factors associated with HIV transmission, consequences of transmitted drug resistance, viral dynamics following HIV acquisition, and clinical outcomes of antiviral therapy during primary HIV infection. She has an additional interest in harnessing new technologies for use in HIV research, care, and prevention.
Uldrick, Thomas MD MS
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Dr. Thomas Uldrick is an international expert on HIV-related cancers, especially Kaposi sarcoma and other diseases caused by Kaposi sarcoma herpesvirus. KS remains one of the most common cancers in HIV-infected people worldwide, with a major disease burden in East Africa. One of his key research interests is designing clinical trials, including immunotherapy studies, that accelerate the delivery of the most promising curative cancer therapies to low-income settings. He explores whether a type of immunotherapy known as a checkpoint inhibitor may improve outcomes in patients with both advanced cancers and HIV. By showing that this class of drug is safe in certain cancer patients with HIV, he is helping break down unnecessary barriers to including them in clinical trials.
Unger, Jennifer MD MPH
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Dr. Unger has focused her research on the socio-behavioral interventions to support reproductive health including the use of mHealth technologies to increase utilization and improve reproductive health care services for women living in low to middle income countries. With collaborators from computer science at the University of Washington and University of Nairobi, Dr. Unger designed Mobile WACh (Mobile Solutions for Women’s and Children’s Health), a unique mobile platform harnessing the capability of the computer-human interaction to send and receive personalized, tailored, and novel messaging with HIV-positive pregnant and post-partum women in Kenya, as well as patient tracking.
Wald, Anna MD MPH
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Research centers on epidemiology, natural history, and immunobiology of herpesvirus infections in immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts. Current projects focus on the biology and epidemiology of HSV acquisition and transmission; the immunopathology of mucosal and ganglionic HSV infection; strategies for prevention of sexual and perinatal HSV transmission; and understanding the biology of interactions between HIV and HSV-2. Additional ongoing research includes the development and testing of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines for viral infections.
Walson, Judd MD MPH MA
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Research is focused on investigating the effect of treating or preventing endemic co-infections (TB, malaria, helminths, diarrhea) on HIV disease progression. Dr. Walson is project PI of a center grant assessing the epidemiology of non-typhoidal salmonella diarrhea and bacteremia in Kenyan children. He recently completed a multi-center randomized trial to determine whether de-worming delays HIV disease progression, and another trial to evaluate benefit of insecticide-treated bed nets and a point-of-use water filtration device on HIV disease progression. He is faculty co-lead of the Global Strategic Analysis and Research Training Program, a collaborative research and graduate student training program between the Gates Foundation and UW Department of Global Health.