Research

The faculty associated with the Division of Infectious Diseases at UCSF have diverse and complementary research interests in clinical, translational, and basic research. ID faculty have a rich tradition of well-funded grant support as part of the top two NIH-funded departments of medicine in the country.

The ID faculty are leading critical studies which include: microbial pathogenesis, the nature of allergic and inflammatory immunity, the development of microarray and deep sequencing technologies for viral pathogen discovery and clinical diagnostics, the modeling of infectious disease epidemics, HIV immunology, epidemiology, and clinical trials on HIV disease treatment and prevention. Faculty in our Training in Malarial Research in Uganda Program study optimal treatment and prevention strategies for malaria control as well as the immunology of malaria and mechanisms of antimalarial drug resistance. Our AIDS faculty are critically evaluating new treatments for HIV and associated complications such as TB and hepatitis, and are looking at novel approaches to HIV care delivery in the US and overseas. As a testament to the rich and collaborative environment here, infectious diseases research at UCSF often transcends traditional disciplines and occurs in a variety of affiliated sites. These range from Mission Bay, Parnassus, the VA Hospital, and San Francisco General Hospital campuses to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, Gladstone Institutes, the Biohub, and the University of California at Berkeley, as well as other countries as part of our global health research program.

Research for fellows

Infectious diseases fellows typically devote most of their time to research starting in the second year of fellowship. A variety of NIH-supported training grants support ID fellows during this period, such as the Infectious Disease Training grant, the HIV Training Grant, and the Traineeship in AIDS Prevention Studies T32 grant. Depending on the specific training grant, interested fellows may also undertake coursework at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health (for a Masters of Public Health), as well as the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute Training Program (towards a Certificate Program or a Masters in Clinical Research). In addition to several University-wide and Division-sponsored research colloquia that occur during the year, the Division of Infectious Diseases sponsors an annual Biology of Infectious Diseases research retreat, where fellows and junior faculty present their research works-in-progress to a wide array of faculty and trainees.

We recommend that applicants identify potential areas of research prior to the interview. During the interview process, we will attempt to make connections between applicants and potential mentors and research areas of interest. In addition, we hold a variety of sessions prior to and during the first year of fellowship to help fellows choose the appropriate mentorship team and projects. The research mentor then works closely with the mentor assigned from the ID training program to ensure fellows’ success and happiness.

A partial list of potential research areas and mentors follows.

HIV

UCSF has been at the epicenter of the HIV epidemic since the beginning and established the first outpatient HIV clinic and inpatient HIV ward. This rich history is reflected in our current research opportunities, which span from basic HIV virology (Division of Experimental Medicine, UCSF Quantitative Biology, the HARC Center, the Host Pathogen Map Initiative, the Gladstone Institute, Vitalant Research Institute), strategies for cure, prevention, and Implementation science.

UCSF has been at the forefront of HIV research since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Of note, UCSF is one of five institutions in the country with a “Tier 3” funded Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), which means that we have a large NIH-funded research enterprise in HIV research, as well as HIV research funded by other philanthropic and non-NIH based organizations. The Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) operates 5 Cores (Administrative, Developmental, Clinical, Basic and Translational Science, Bio-Behavioral) supporting over 300 HIV researchers and clinicians domestically and abroad, addressing co-morbidities, cure, treatment adherence, immunology, and suveillance. 

The HIV research at UCSF can be divided into three different pillars, specifically:

Basic and Translational Science Research

Basic and translational science research mainly on the pathogenesis of HIV, inflammation in chronic HIV infection, and HIV latency-reversal strategies. This includes a huge focus on HIV cure, HIV persistence and the HIV reservoir.  UCSF CFAR-affiliates include the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology and Vitalant, as well as the Division of Experimental Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital , all with many labs dedicated to specific pathogenesis and immunology and inflammation-based research. HIV laboratory-based research at the VA Medical Center also contributes to this important research platform. UCSF researchers can access the SCOPE and OPTIONS Cohorts at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, and the UARTO Cohort in Mbarara, Uganda, providing clinical data and biological specimens, banked or in real time, for exploratory translational research studies. The wealth of population-based data paves the way for greater understanding of how people living with HIV manage the disease across the lifespan, including immune activation, cardiovascular risk and treatment intensification, and low-level viremia. The AIDS Specimen Bank, a large-scale repository, processes on average 25,000 specimens a year for research and clinicians addressing a myriad of research questions.  UCSF’s leadership in the DARE (Delaney AIDS Research Enterprise) and CARE (Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication) Collaboratories, and the establishment of the amfAR HIV Cure Research Institute, have dedicated substantial financial and research resources to the search for a cure.

Treatment and Prevention Research

Treatment and Prevention Research: Researchers from UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health (a UCSF CFAR affiliate) have taken the lead in HVTN (HIV Vaccine Trials Network) and HPTN (HIV Prevention Trials Network) studies, including those now focused on a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The Getting to Zero campaign and Bridge HIV focus on robust clinical-social/behavioral interventions to curb the transmission of HIV. The NIMH-funded Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS), the largest university- based research center in the world dedicated to social, behavioral, and policy science approaches to HIV, focuses resources on partnering with local organizations working with vulnerable populations, and the Health Disparities Core of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research supports emerging investigators in this area specifically. UCSF is one of the sites of the NIH-funded combined MACS/Women’s Interagency HIV Study cohorts, observational cohorts studying long-term implications of living with HIV among MSM and women. The need for broad accessibility to information is addressed by the Center for HIV Information, one of the most trafficked HIV information sites on the internet targeted to lay audiences, and housed within the VA. Many centers and departments address multiple areas of training and implementation. The Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine, the home of the world’s first HIV clinic, Ward 86, and the hub of HIV clinical care at UCSF, serves a diverse 2,500 patients over 28,000 clinical visits a year in their many clinics (HIV Primary Care, Hepatitis C Clinic, Women’s Clinic, Latino Clinic, PrEP Clinic, Adolescent Clinic, the RAPID program to initiate immediate treatment, the PHAST program to link and retain patients in interdisciplinary care, Infectious Disease Clinic, Drop-in Clinic, Pulmonary Clinic, Anal Dysplasia Clinic, substance use counseling services, and the Golden Compass program for older patients, the POP-UP program for homeless patients), and by engaging them in research. UCSF is an AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG)  clinical research site (CRS). UCSF ACTG investigators design and  conduct clinical trials of HIV cure strategies, innovative therapies for HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis, and COVID treatment and prevention strategies.

International Research

International research:  Dr. Diane Havlir launched the SEARCH project, an ambitious intervention in 32 communities in Uganda and Kenya that has enrolled over 320,000 participants exploring the effects of early treatment and prevention on both health and economic outcomes. The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The Bixby Center for Reproductive Health, and researchers affiliated with CAPS, CFAR, the AIDS Education and Training Center, and ARI have all launched successful care and treatment projects, intervention studies, and capacity building partnerships in developing countries. Finally, UCSF's well-regarded Global Health Sciences program has taken the lessons learned in San Francisco and implemented them around the world for over thirty years. We conduct research, build capacity in scientists and healthcare personnel, improve data monitoring and use, provide technical assistance to governments, and much more.

Back to the top.

COVID-19

UCSF offers a wide array of COVID-19 research opportunities from translational research to community-based studies on transmission and health disparities. Below we highlight ongoing projects and UCSF ID faculty:

Immunology and Translational Research
  • The COVID-19 Host Immune Response Pathogenesis (CHIRP) study. Dr. Sulggi Lee and colleagues are leading a prospective longitudinal cohort study designed to evaluate clinical, demographic, behavioral, immunologic, and genetic risk factors associated with acute COVID-19 acquisition and severity. We are using multi-omics single-cell analytical approaches to longitudinally characterize host immune responses, including defining the features of SARS-CoV-2-specific T and B cell responses during asymptomatic, mild, and severe cases of COVID-19. Preliminary findings: SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells exhibit unique features characterized by robust helper function, lack of terminal differentiation, and high proliferative potential
     
  • The Long-term Impact of Infection with Novel Coronavirus (LIINC) study. Dr. Steve Deeks, Dr. Tim Henrich, and Dr. Michael Peluso and colleagues have since April 2020 led one of the first prospective observational cohort studies of individuals recovering form SARS-CoV-2 infection. LIINC is a highly collaborative study with co-investigators from across the UCSF campuses and throughout the United States. Key research questions focus on the effectiveness and durability of the immune response, the long-term impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on organ systems including the heart, lungs, brain, and GI tract, as well as Long COVID, and the psychosocial impact of infection and recovery. Several current and former ID fellows have played key roles in the design and implementation of LIINC, which is also a valuable training opportunity for fellows, residents, and medical students. The study website is www.liincstudy.org
    ​​​​​​
  • Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER)/Figuring Out Long COVID. In collaboration with the LIINC study (see above), UCSF researchers including Dr. Steve Deeks, Dr. Jeff Martin, Dr. Dan Kelly, and Dr. Michael Peluso, Dr. Kim Rhoads, and Dr. Carina Marquez are contributing to the NIH's national RECOVER initiative through a local program ("Figuring Out Long COVID"). Highly synergistic with LIINC, RECOVER enrolls individuals from the Bay Area with and without Long COVID to help understand the biology of this condition through a combination of advanced clinical and research testing. There is a major focus on engagement and enrollment of all of the communities affected by COVID in our geographical region. The national program website is www.recovercovid.org and the local study website is: www.figuringoutlongcovid.org.
     
  • COVID-19 Immunophenotyping. As part of the COVID-19 Multi-phenotyping for Effective Therapies (COMET) study, we are employing bulk and single cell RNA sequencing of blood and respiratory fluids in COVID-19 patients and controls to: ​​​​​1) profile the temporal dynamics of host immune responses and viral load over the course of disease; 2) understand host and microbial factors associated with COVID-19 severity; 3) predict outcomes from blood and respiratory tract gene expression signatures including development of ARDS and mortality; 4) Elucidate mechanisms underlying the association between age and COVID-19 severity; 5) identify targets for therapeutic intervention. Investigators in from the COMET study in the ID Division include: Chaz Langelier
     
  • Diagnostics and Genomic Epidemiology of COVID-19 In collaboration with CZ Biohub and the UCSF Department of Medicine, we are integrating metagenomic sequencing of virus and host with electronic health record data to: 1) understand the clinical features and transmissibility of COVID; 2) determine the prevalence and predictors of bacterial and viral secondary infections; 3) evaluate transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the hospital and community; 4) develop and assess the diagnostic performance of novel host/viral metagenomic diagnostics for acute COVID-19. ID Division include: Chaz Langelier, Joe Derisi, Monica Fung, Oren Rosenberg
Epidemiology and Community-Engaged Research
  • Community-Engaged Research on SARS-CoV-2 transmission and strategies to optimize low-barrier testing and response in underserved populations. In partnership with the Latino Task Force for COVID 19, our group led the Unidos en Salud study in the majority Latinx Mission district of San Francisco. This was one of the first community-based ‘COVID-19 test and respond’ studies. Novel low-barrier ‘test and respond’ studies are ongoing. Lead ID Faculty: Diane Havlir, Carina Marquez, Gabriel Chamie, Joe Derisi, Bryan Greenhouse.
     
  • Community Health Worker-Led Mobile Contact Tracing and Testing (Carina Marquez, Michael Reid)
     
  • CHART Health Care worker Study (Doernberg, Jain)
     
  • HIV and COVID (Gandhi, Spinelli, Brown, Jain) Little is known about how HIV and the virus that causes COVID-19 (SARS- CoV-2) interact, including whether HIV increases the risk of COVID-19; whether people with HIV develop long- lasting immunity against SARS-CoV-2 after infection; and how the disruption to care systems, engendered by the COVID-19 epidemic, will impact the ability of patients to take their antiretroviral therapy and maintain virologic suppression. We plan to examine: (1) if people living with HIV in San Francisco are more susceptible to COVID-19 (incidence and seroprevalence) and have worse clinical outcomes; (2) if immunity against COVID-19 in people with and without HIV after COVID-19 infection differs; and whether the disruption to health care systems, social support, and the economy will influence HIV clinical and socio-behavioral outcomes (like depression, anxiety, food insecurity, housing issues, substance use) among people with HIV. 
Therapeutics and Clinical Trials 

Our division is active in COVD therapeutics across the spectrum of disease, including inpatients,  and outpatients and disease prevention through COVID vaccine clinical trials. Dr. Luetkemeyer and colleagues are actively investigating  therapeutic strategies which include convalescent plasma, novel antivirals, and anti-inflammatories. She is investigator with several NIH-funded COVID networks, including ACTT, ACTIV, and the CoVPN vaccine trial network.

Back to the top. 

Microbial Pathogenesis

UCSF hosts numerous world-class laboratories in each aspect of microbial pathogenesis, including bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic, and innate immunity research programs. UCSF ID faculty (Dr. Joanne Engel, Dr. Oren Rosenberg, Dr. Richard Locksley, Dr. Chaz Langelier) participate in the UCSF Integrative Microbiology (I-Micro) Program. I-Micro brings together communities of scientists and clinicians from across many disciplines at UCSF, including microbiology, immunology, infectious disease, transplant surgery, oncology, and others, to understand host-pathogen interactions in health and disease. The program integrates students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty from diverse programs, expertise, and backgrounds by nourishing synergistic interactions and facilitating new approaches not otherwise possible. Program faculty are drawn from the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry in both the academic and clinical sciences, ensuring a broad range of opportunities in basic and translational research. Outstanding institutional core facilities are available to accelerate application of new and emerging technologies. The strong tradition of openness and collaboration among UCSF laboratories and research groups allows trainees to easily access diverse expertise from multiple faculty. The iMicro program has an NIH T32 training grant that can support students and postdoctoral fellows.  The program is open to all UCSF graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, including ID fellows, to participate in research in laboratories associated with I-Micro and its affiliated programs (ImmunoX, BCMR, Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub) as well as to participate in iMicro activities.  These activities include a weekly iMicro seminar series, a yearly Bay Area Microbial Pathogenesis Symposium, and a yearly UCSF iMicro trainee research symposium. 

  • Build the Infectious Disease Clinic of the Future, focusing first on immunocompromised patients; this Clinic will aim to rapidly develop new, effective, infectious disease diagnostics, therapeutics and protocols.
  • Unravel the atomic and molecular mechanisms of microbes, both internal and external to our own bodies, including in bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.
  • Understand how these microbes interact with our immune system to form and/or fight disease.
  • Develop and test new ways to track, monitor, and predict infectious disease in patients.
  • Manipulate the human microbiome for health.
  • Establish the Center for Pandemic Research

Back to the top.

Malaria

Our malaria research group has been active for over 20 years, bringing together a diverse group of UCSF faculty members from the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, Clinical Pharmacology, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, and Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences. Areas of interest include clinical trials for the treatment and prevention of malaria, antimalarial drug resistance, antimalarial drug discovery, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antimalarial drugs, malaria in pregnancy, molecular epidemiology, sero-epidemiology, naturally acquired immunity to malaria, and public health surveillance. Laboratory work is performed at a number of laboratories at SFGH. A majority of our fieldwork is conducted in Uganda with the Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration and collaborators from Makerere University. We have a large field site in Eastern Uganda that includes several study clinics, a data center, an insectary, and a research lab with capacity to culture parasites and perform basic immunology, histopathology, and molecular biology studies. We also have a health facility based network at 68 sites around the country. We also have research projects at other international sites including Burkina Faso, several countries in Southern Africa, and countries in Southeast Asia. We have active collaborations with several international and domestic institutions including the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Stanford University, University of Washington, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, and Brown University.

Training and capacity building is a major focus of our group. We have mentored many medical students, graduate students, residents, and post-doctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in malaria research at UCSF or other institutions including Southwestern Medical Center, Yale University, Stanford University, and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. We place a strong emphasis on providing opportunities for fieldwork and partnering U.S. based trainees with scientist from malaria endemic countries. Many of our trainees have been awarded mentored research career development awards including NIH F31 grants for doctoral students and K series grants for post-doctoral and Infectious Diseases fellows. We also have two NIH Fogarty International Center malaria research training grants to support endemic country scientists.

Clinical Trials

Overview: Our group has a long history of conducting clinical trials, including dozens of antimalarial drug efficacy studies and evaluations of antimalarial drugs for the prevention of malaria in children and pregnant women. Currently funded studies include a randomized controlled trail comparing different regimens for the prevention of malaria and improvement of birth outcomes in pregnant women, a large cluster randomized trial comparing long lasting bednets with different formulations of insecticides, and routine antimalarial drug efficacy studies. These trials offer the opportunity to work on all aspects of trial design, implementation, and analysis as well as the opportunity for secondary data analysis and complementary translational studies. 

Related faculty: Grant Dorsey, Philip Rosenthal, Isabel Rodriguez-Barraquer, Erika Wallender, Stephanie Gaw

Key resources/funding:

Title Funding Agency (Award #) Dates
Program for Resistance, Immunology, Surveillance & Modeling of Malaria in Uganda (PRISM) NIH (U19AI089674) 2010-24
Optimal chemopreventive regimens to prevent malaria and improve birth outcomes in Uganda (DPSP) NIH (U01AI141308) 2020-25
Drug Mechanisms, Resistance and Pharmacology

Overview: At UCSF we are engaged in antimalarial drug discovery, characterization of mechanisms of action of novel antimalarial compounds, characterization of the genotypes and phenotypes of malaria parasites with varied sensitivity to established and novel antimalarials, and evaluation of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antimalarial drugs. Working with collaborating groups in Uganda and Burkina Faso, we are maintaining surveillance for markers of antimalarial drug resistance, characterizing in vitro antimalarial drug resistance, and performing translational studies to better understand the interplay of antimalarial activity, drug resistance, parasite fitness, and drug pharmacokinetics. These studies offer opportunities to work in a range of translational research areas, from basic research at UCSF to translational studies in Africa.

Related faculty: Philip Rosenthal, Fran Aweeka, Erika Wallender, Melissa Conrad, Rada Savic

Key resources/funding:

Title Funding Agency (Award #) Dates
Pharmacological insights into antimalarial exposure, clinical outcomes, and drug resistance in Africa (PACT) NIH (R01AI117001) 2015-25
Resistance of Malaria Parasites to Artemisinin-Based Therapies (REACT) NIH (R01AI075045) 2007-20
Optimal chemopreventive regimens to prevent malaria and improve birth outcomes in Uganda (DPSP) NIH (U01AI141308) 2020-25
Program for Resistance, Immunology, Surveillance & Modeling of Malaria in Uganda (PRISM) NIH (U19AI089674) 2010-24
Mechanisms of varied sensitivity of P. falciparum field isolates to the antimalarial drug pipeline (VSPA) NIH (R01AI139179) 2018-23
Ex vivo drug sensitivities of Ugandan malaria isolates Medicines for Malaria Venture 2016-20
Benzoxaborole-based antimalarial drug discovery NIH (R43 AI155112) 2020-22
Molecular Epidemiology

Overview: The large and diverse genomes of malaria parasites provide a tool to track infections within hosts, through populations, and between regions over time. Our team builds laboratory and analytical tools to extract this information and applies them with innovative field studies to understand details of transmission epidemiology that are difficult or impossible to measure accurately with traditional methods. These studies allow us to provide actionable data for public health and answer fundamental questions regarding the transmission biology and epidemiology of malaria. Projects are located at numerous sites in Africa.

Related faculty: Bryan Greenhouse, Isabel Rodriguez-Barraquer

Key resources/funding:

Title Funding Agency (Award #) Dates
Program for Resistance, Immunology, Surveillance & Modeling of Malaria in Uganda (PRISM) NIH (U19AI089674) 2017-24
Mentoring translational scientists in international infectious disease research NIH (K24AI144048) 2019-23
Immunology

Overview: Immunity to malaria is a complex phenotype, requiring integration of numerous streams of data including molecular and immunologic analysis of the parasite and host. We work on novel ways to more accurately measure various manifestations of clinical immunity and study the relationships between infection and various aspects of the host response including humoral immunity, cellular immunity, and comprehensive systems immunology projects. Novel ways of using antibodies for precisely determining prior exposure are also being evaluated for public health surveillance. Our group has also made significant progress in elucidating the immunopathogenesis of human malaria, including definition of regulatory and effector cell populations that are associated with immunity. Currently funded studies investigate how the natural acquisition of antimalarial immunity is altered by chemopreventive interventions, how immunogenetic factors influence susceptibility to malaria, and how fetal T cells respond to pathogen-derived antigens encountered in utero. These studies leverage large and well-characterized human biospecimen banks and provide numerous opportunities for add-on studies to investigate the host immune response to malaria and co-pathogens.

Related faculty: Bryan Greenhouse, Margaret Feeney, Mary Prahl

Key resources/funding:

  Title Funding Agency (Award #) Dates
Computational models of naturally acquired immunity to falciparum malaria NIH (U01AI150741) 2020-25
Novel serologic assays of P. falciparum exposure for improved surveillance in control and elimination. NIH (R01AI119019) 2016-21
Drivers of strain-specific and strain-transcendent antimalarial immunity in childhood NIH (R01AI137037) 2020-25
Mentoring translational scientists in international infectious disease research NIH (K24AI144048) 2019-23
Effector and Regulatory T cell Response and Protection from Clinical Malaria NIH (R01AI093615) 2011-21
Mentoring Translational Researchers for Careers in Pediatric Global Health NIH (K24AI113002) 2014-24

 

 

Back to the top.

Tuberculosis

The Division of Infectious Disease offers many opportunities and platforms through which to study TB, ranging from structural biology to immunology (Division of Infectious Disease, Division of Experimental Medicine, Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub), new therapeutic approaches (Division of Infectious Disease, Division of Experimental Medicine, Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub), co-infection with other global infectious diseases including HIV and Malaria (Division of HIV, Infectious Disease, and Global Health, UCSF Global Health),and implementation science. UCSF is also home to the UCSF Center for Tuberculosis, which integrates and enhances collaboration and opportunities for collaboration between faculty, fellows, and trainees involved in TB research across UCSF schools, departments, and programs. 

Structural Biology and Immunology
  • New approaches using structural, biochemical, proteomic, and genetic expertise to provide a detailed understanding  of the structure and post-translational regulation of a key virulence factor in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. (Rosenberg)
Title Funding Agency (Award #) Dates

Protein secretion in bacterial pathogen

PI: Rosenberg

R01AI12821

NIH/NAIAD​​

2017-22
Epidemiology and Transmission Dynamics
  • Characterizing the incidence of TB infection and the individual and social-spatial network-level drivers of TB infection in a longitudinal cohort of children, adolescents and their families in rural Uganda. The goal of this work is to identify when, where, and why children in rural Uganda are acquiring TB and to develop interventions to prevent TB infection. (Marquez) 
  • Assessing transmission dynamics in rural Uganda through social network and molecular epidemiology. (Chamie)
Title Funding Agency (Award #) Dates

Childhood Tuberculosis Infection Among School-Age Children in Rural Uganda
​​​​​​

PI: Marquez

K23AI118592

NIH/NIAID

2015-20
Behavioral Economics and Implementation Science
  • Factorial trial among HIV/TB co-infected adults with heavy alcohol use in Uganda to determine whether economic incentive interventions can promote both reduced alcohol use, INH adherence, and HIV virologic suppression (Hahn, Chamie)
  • Randomized effectiveness trial of the multi-component SPIRIT intervention on initiation and completion of isoniazid preventive therapy among people living with HIV across rural Uganda. This multi-component intervention is based on the PRECEDE model of behavioral change that deploys predisposing (teaching collaborative of District Health Officers); enabling (INH/B6/septrin single pill combination and SMS from District Health Officer to provider); and reinforcing (reporting collaborative) components. (Havlir, Chamie)
Title Funding Agency (Award #) Dates

Interventions to reduce alcohol use and increase adherence to TB preventive therapy among HIV/TB co-infected drinkers (DIPT 2/2)

Co-PIs: Hahn and Chamie

U01AA026221

NIH/NIAID


 
2017-22

Simplified Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (SPIRIT) Strategy to Reduce TB Burden

PI: Havlir ​​​​​​

Protocol Chair: Chamie

R01AI125000

NIH/NIAID

2016-21
Clinical Trials and Therapeutics

Clinical trials for TB therapeutics and diagnostics through the HIV Clinical Trials Unit in the Division of HIV, ID, and Global Medicine and the AIDS Clinical Trials Group. (Luetkemeyer, Havlir).

Public Policy and Diplomacy

Leveraging diplomacy to end tuberculosis and to improve care delivery for people living with HIV and TB through diplomacy (Reid, Goosby). Recent work from the TB public policy diplomacy group includes the Lancet Commission on Tuberculosis. 

Back to the top.

    Public Health

    UCSF partners closely with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, as well as the California Department of Public Health, working collaboratively on the prevention and treatment of many infections including HIV, Hepatitis C, COVID-19, and STDs. Key partners at the SFDPH include Dr. Susan Buchbinder and Dr. Hyman Scott in HIV Prevention, Dr. Stephanie Cohen and Dr. Oliver Bacon on STD treatment and prevention, and Dr. Phillip Coffin in infection in persons who inject drugs. 

    Emerging Infections (EPPIcenter)

    The EPPIcenter brings a systems epidemiology approach to understanding complex infectious disease dynamics by integrating state-of-the-art data collection, molecular technologies, and computational analysis. Their interdisciplinary approach provides novel insight into the targeting of interventions to reduce and ultimately eliminate infectious disease burden. The EPPIcenter is led by Dr. Bryan Greenhouse and Dr. Isabel Rodríguez-Barraquer.

    Molecular Diagnostics 

    UCSF ID division (Dr. Chaz Langelier), together with the Chan-Zuckerberg biohub (Dr. Chaz LangelierDr. Joe DeRisi), the Innovative Genomics Institute (Dr. Alex Marson), and the Dept. of Laboratory Medicine (Dr. Charles Chiu), have been leaders in developing metagenomic and next generation sequencing pipelines and applying these technologies to hospital infection control and outbreaks. These groups have played pivotal roles in deciphering the source and transmission of the COVID-19 outbreaks in California and are the lead center in the newly established NIH COMET study.

    Antimicrobial Stewardship, Infection Prevention, and Antimicrobial Resistance 

    The Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention programs offer hands-on experience for fellows interested in these career tracks. Research opportunities focus on implementation and dissemination. In addition, partnerships with leaders in molecular diagnostics (Dr. Chaz Langelier) and machine learning techniques afford opportunities in precision stewardship and outbreak detection (affiliated faculty: Dr. Chaz Langelier, Dr. Deborah Yokoe, Dr. Lisa Winston, Dr. Vivek Jain, Dr. Jennifer Mulliken, Dr. Harry Lampiris, Dr. Rachel Bystritsky, Dr. Sarah Doernberg).  Innovative studies in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of antibacterial resistant organisms through the NIH-funded Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (Dr. Henry Chambers, Dr. Sarah Doernberg).

    Transplant Infectious Diseases

    UCSF is one of the largest transplant centers in the nation, with robust programs in Liver, Lung, Kidney, and hematopoietic transplants. The UCSF ID division developed a separate full-time ID transplant and immunocompromised inpatient adult consult service over 10 years ago with a small subgroup of dedicated, specialized attending faculty; in addition, we provide full service outpatient follow-up as well. The UCSF ID division recently launched a “Predict-ID” initiative to apply the cutting edge technologies to a planned prospective study of infections in the immunocompromised population in order to develop and implement transformative ways to predict, diagnose, and preemptively prevent infections in immunocompromised patients, with the idea of transforming ID clinical practice.

    Medical Education

    UCSF is a leader in research in training and research in health professions education. The Center for Faculty Educators at UCSF hosts a wide range of coursework on teaching, curriculum development, leadership, and educational research methods. Through the Health Professions Education Pathway, fellows are provided training and mentorship through the development of scholarly projects. Many fellows have created scholarly work published in infectious diseases and medical education journals. Medical education leaders in the ID Division at UCSF actively engaged in scholarly work include Dr. Jennifer Babik, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, Dr. Brian Schwartz, and Dr. Bryn Boslett