Outside Collaborators
Jose Bordon, M.D., Ph.D., AAHIVS
Assistant Professor, Georgetown University Medical Center
Physician, Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Providence Hospital
Phone: 202-269-7747
Email: jbordon@provhosp.org
I am an Infectious Diseases and HIV Specialist at Providence Hospital working on helping my local community affected by the HIV and hepatitis C epidemics. For many years my research interests have focused on HIV infection, hepatitis C and other infectious complications. I have been working on translation research studies related to immune reconstitution of gamma-delta T cells in HIV-infected individuals who are on antiretroviral therapy as well as host response of HIV infected individuals and other projects related to individuals with HIV infections and hepatitis C.
Fatah Kashanchi, Ph.D.
Director of Research, NCBID, School of Systems Biology, George Mason University
Phone: 703-993-Email: fkashanc@gmu.edu
My laboratory is focused on defining transcriptional and chromatin mediated regulation of HIV and HTLV-1 infected cells. Our studies have resulted in novel concepts regarding promoter-bound proteins that regulate all events of mRNA biogenesis (including capping, elongation, termination, poly A addition, splicing), nuclear-cytoplasmic transport, and activation of nonsense mRNA degradation. Among biothreat agents, the Kashanchi lab is interested in Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) and Venuzueln Equine Encepalitis virus (VEEV) replication in vitro and in vivo and defining crucial host-pathogen interactions that are imperative to pathogenesis.
Mimi Ghosh, Ph.D., M.S.
Assistant Professor, George Washington University, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Phone: 202-994-5740
Email: mghosh@gwu.edu
My research investigates how menopause affects the innate immune system in the female reproductive tract, altering susceptibility of postmenopausal women to HIV. This involves characterizing innate anti-HIV activity and determining the levels of protective anti-HIV innate immune factors as well as pro-inflammatory HIV enhancing immune factors in the genital secretions of postmenopausal women compared to those found in premenopausal women. Results of this study may prove highly relevant given that more women than men are being affected by HIV and the population of HIV-positive postmenopausal women are on the rise.
Helen S. Cohen, Ed.D., O.T.R., F.A.O.T.A.
Professor, Dept. of Otolaryngology, Baylor College of Medicine
Phone: 713-798-7702
Email: hcohen@bcm.edu
I am a sensorimotor physiologist and occupational therapist. My research is focused on learning more about how people adapt to sensorimotor change due to disease, aging or environmental influences, how to assess people for disorders of the vestibular system and for balance problems, and how to intervene with rehabilitation when people experience those changes. This work includes studying the influence of HIV/ AIDS on the development of vestibular and balance disorders.
Wendy S. Post, M.D., M.S.
Research Director, Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Cardiovascular Fellowship
Phone: 410-955-7376
Email: wpost@jhmi.edu
I am a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and hold a joint appointment as professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I am a cardiologist at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease and the Echocardiography Laboratory. I am also an associate faculty at the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins University. My research interests include prediction and prevention of coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death, noninvasive imaging of subclinical atherosclerosis, genetics of cardiovascular disease, and cardiovascular disease in HIV/AIDS. I am the principal investigator for the Hopkins field center for the NIH-funded Multi-Ethnic study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and for the Multi-Center AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) Cardiovascular Disease sub-study. Currently, I am the PI for two R01 grants from NHLBI investigating cardiovascular disease in HIV. My colleague, Dr. Katherine Wu, and I are dual PIs for a grant titled, “Identifying Risk Factors for Subclinical Myocardial Disease in HIV Infection” which includes men and women from the WIHS, MACS and ALIVE studies who all undergo cardiac MRI scanning. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether HIV infection is associated with heart muscle (myocardial) abnormalities that might predispose to heart failure, arrhythmias, or sudden cardiac death.
Peter Torre III, Ph.D., M.S.
Professor, School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University
Phone: 619-594-4787
Email: ptorre@mail.sdsu.edu
My research program has two distinctive components. One investigating recreational noise exposure in young, college-aged adults and the other exploring how HIV exposure and infection affect hearing sensitivity in both children and adults. Regarding the former, the aim is to examine the possible short-term and long-term effects of personal music system use with earphones on auditory function in individuals with normal hearing. Regarding the latter, the goal is to evaluate the effects of HIV on the auditory system in two separate populations; one population includes perinatally HIV-infected (PHIV) and exposed children and the second population includes HIV-infected adults. Both PHIV children and HIV-infected adults are more at risk for hearing loss than uninfected children and adults.