Our Team

Leadership

CIDI Co-Director, Director and Leader, BJGMC-JHU Clinical Research Site, Pune, India
Dr. Mave is Co-Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases in India. She is also Director and Clinical Research Site (CRS) Leader of the Johns Hopkins University Baltimore-India Clinical Trials Unit (JHUBI-CTU) in Pune, India. The CTU is a collaborative research partnership between BJGMC in Pune, India and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine that is part of the world’s largest HIV therapeutic trial networks (the AIDS Clinical Trials Group [ACTG] and the International Maternal Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trial Network [IMPAACT]). Dr. Mave has more than 20 years of experience in clinical practice, education, and research in infectious diseases and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed research articles. Following a short tenure as Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases at Tulane University School of Medicine, Dr. Mave joined the Johns Hopkins in 2010.

Co-Director, Professor of Infectious Diseases; Vice Chair for Research, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Sunil Suhas Solomon, MBBS PhD MPH, is a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA. He completed his medical training at the Sri Ramachandra Medical University in Chennai, India and received a Master of Public Health (MPH) and a doctorate in Epidemiology (PhD) from the Johns Hopkins University, USA. Dr. Solomon has been elected into the Phi Beta Kappa honors society for academic excellence and the Delta Omega Public Health honors society. His research is primarily focused on the epidemiology, clinical management and access to services for HIV and viral hepatitis among vulnerable populations such as people who inject drugs (PWID) and men who have sex with men (MSM), primarily from low and middle-income country settings. He has over 150 peer-reviewed publications in several highly ranked journal. He serves as the Deputy Editor of the Journal of the International AIDS Society as member of the technical resource group of the National AIDS Control Organisation, India for people who inject drugs and antiretroviral therapy that advises the National AIDS Program in India.

Managing Director
Rachel Kopajtic is the Managing Director for the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. She is a member of the team in Baltimore, Maryland, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership since 2020. Prior to her role with ACCELERATE, she provided financial leadership as part of the Global Program Finance team at JHPIEGO and the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at Johns Hopkins throughout her 20+-year tenure with JHU. Rachel received an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign- Gies College of Business.

JHU Faculty

Assistant Professor of Medicine
Steven J. Clipman, PhD., MSPH, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. His research rests at the nexus of computational genetics, network science, and infectious disease epidemiology and is focused on leveraging innovative computational and molecular methods to address health disparities among vulnerable and underserved populations. His current work aims to understand the transmission dynamics of HIV and hepatitis C virus epidemics among networks of people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men and seeks to identify targeted intervention strategies to interrupt population-level transmission. Dr. Clipman is the recipient of the 2022 NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He has a computational biology background and completed a fellowship in Bioinformatics at the National Institutes of Health before receiving his Master of Science in Public Health degree and doctorate in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University.

Professor of Medicine
Dr. Richard E. Chaisson is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He holds joint appointments in epidemiology and in international health, both in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His area of clinical expertise is infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Dr. Chaisson serves as the director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Tuberculosis Research, the director and principal investigator of the Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research. He received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Massachusetts. He was an intern, resident, fellow and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, prior to moving to Johns Hopkins.

Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and International Health
Jonathan Golub, PhD, MPH brings more than 20 years of experience focusing on the epidemiology, detection, and prevention of TB in low and middle-income countries and the many drivers associated with TB acquisition, progression, and treatment outcomes. He is a Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and International Health at the Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Public Health. He is experienced in developing and implementing research studies for TB in Brazil, South Africa and India, leading and managing large research teams in these countries.

Dr. Florence Sabin Professor of Infectious Diseases; Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases; Professor of Medicine and International Health; Faculty co-Chair, Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute
Dr. Gupta is Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is also Faculty Co-chair of the Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute, and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the JH School of Medicine. She has a joint appointment in International Health at the JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Gupta specializes in international public health, clinical research, and education in infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and antimicrobial resistant infections. Since 2003, her work has been focused primarily on India, where she leads several Indo-JHU research collaborations. She is an author of more than 200 peer-reviewed research publications and 7 book chapters on prevention and treatment of HIV, TB, and other infectious diseases, primarily in low- and middle-income settings. She has also mentored more than 35 junior scientists in India and the US to run research studies and submit their own scientific findings to peer-reviewed publications.

Assistant Professor
Sonya Krishnan, MD, is Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research interests include host biomarkers of HIV/TB and TB outcomes with particular interest in understanding inflammation pathways, their impacts and potential therapies.
Dr. Krishnan grew up in Minnesota and completed her undergraduate studies at Carleton College, becoming involved in HIV research while studying abroad in Tanzania. After college she spent two years at the NIH studying predictors of IRIS as well as inflammatory markers in HIV-infected elite controllers with Dr. Irini Sereti. She then completed her MD at George Washington University and subsequently moved to Baltimore for internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins. During residency she continued to pursue her interest in global health, studying Chagas Cardiomyopathy in Bolivia with Dr. Gilman via a Paul S. Lietman Global Travel Grant. She completed her clinical infectious diseases fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2022.

Professor of Medicine
Dr. Gregory M. Lucas is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His areas of clinical expertise include HIV/AIDS, substance use disorders, and infectious disease.
Dr. Lucas received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame. He earned his M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine and his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins. He completed his residency and performed a fellowship in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins.
He serves on the faculties of the Center for AIDS Research, where he is co-director of the Substance Use Scientific Working Group.

Assistant Professor
Abraham Kandathil PhD is assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focuses on characterizing plasma virome particularly among people who inject drugs. His NIDA funded work looks at the utility of using non-pathogenic viruses to identify early transmission networks of HIV and other bloodborne infections among injection drug users. He is also part of studies that focus on identification of microbial etiology of acute febrile illness in patients from Uganda.
After completing his PhD in virology from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. He did a postdoctoral fellowship in the Viral Hepatitis Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has worked on HIV-1 drug resistance in India, including structural interpretations of observed mutations in clade C, quantifying and mapping HCV infections at the single hepatocyte level, and investigating HIV-1 latency in liver macrophages.

Assistant Research Professor
Allison McFall, PhD is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. McFall is a member of the monitoring and evaluation team for the ACCELERATE project. Allison McFall received her PhD in Epidemiology from the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Charles Armstrong Chair in Epidemiology
Primary research interests include working with hard-to reach populations to understand the epidemiology, natural and treated history of HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV/HCV co-infection; Populations of interest include injection drug users and men who have sex with men as well as their sexual partners in both Baltimore and international settings, particularly India; Special interest in identifying and overcoming barriers to care and treatment of HIV and hepatitis C virus among such populations.

Associate Professor
Dr. Chloe Thio is a professor of medicine and an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine/Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her areas of clinical expertise include viral hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and infectious disease.
Dr. Thio received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her M.D. from the Yale University School of Medicine. She completed her residency at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and her fellowship in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins.
Her research interests include chronic hepatitis B and C and coinfection of viral hepatitis with HIV/AIDS. She has developed a program centered around virology and immunology translational work towards an HBV cure.
Dr. Thio is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, HIVMA and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Assistant Professor
Matthew Robinson, MD, is Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is interested in leveraging diagnostic innovation and precision medicine to reduce diagnostic and prognostic uncertainty for infectious diseases, particularly in India. His current projects include applications in global health, antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic stewardship, infection control, COVID-19, acute febrile illness, and tuberculosis.
After undergraduate and medical school at Northwestern University, he completed internal medicine residency at New York University and Infectious Diseases fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. During medical school, he worked at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing, China under a Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship. He also served as a clinician educator in internal medicine in Gulu, Uganda at the Gulu University Faculty of Medicine as a Global Health Service Partnership volunteer.

Professor of Medicine
Dr. David Thomas is a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases and cares for patients with chronic viral hepatitis.
From 2006-2022, Dr. Thomas served as the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Stanhope Bayne-Jones Professor of Medicine. He remains a Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine and of Epidemiology in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a co-director of the Center for AIDS Research Clinical Core.
He earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry, in 1982, and his medical degree, in 1986, from West Virginia University. He then completed his medical training and residency at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, before coming to Johns Hopkins as a research fellow in infectious diseases. He went on to earn his Master of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Professor of Medicine
Dr. Shah is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins (JH) School of Medicine, and a faculty member of both the JH Center for Clinical Global Health Education and the JH Center for TB Research. He is Medical Director for the Baltimore City Tuberculosis Program, an attending physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and is board certified in infectious diseases and internal medicine.
Dr. Shah’s research involves evaluating and implementing novel HIV and tuberculosis (TB) intervention strategies in resource constrained settings. He has evaluates new TB diagnostic technologies (examples include the urinary LAM assays, Xpert MTB/Rif, Quantiferon-gold-in-tube) and assesses the cost-effectiveness of emerging strategies for HIV and TB care in South Africa, Uganda, India, and Baltimore. of America.

Associate Professor
Jeffrey Tornheim, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases here at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research explores the application of new diagnostic technologies to improved health outcomes in the treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis among both adult and pediatric patients in India.
Dr. Tornheim recently completed his infectious diseases fellowship at Johns Hopkins, during which he worked with Drs. Amita Gupta, Vidya Mave, Bob Bollinger of Johns Hopkins, and with Dr. Zarir Udwadia at the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai. His interest in clinical outcomes for underserved populations led him to practice in physician training environments in Bolivia, Peru, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, and the United States.

Raj and Kamla Gupta Professor of Infectious Diseases, Professor of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing
From 2005-2022, Dr. Bollinger was the Founding Director of the JH Center for Clinical Global Health Education (now CCGHE-ID), which was the home of the Johns Hopkins Division of Infectious Diseases research program in Pune, India until the establishment of the Center for Infectious Diseases in India (CIDI). Dr. Bollinger has worked for more than 40 years with partners in India on a wide range of public health, clinical research, and education programs, including projects focused on HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, dengue, antibiotic resistant infections, COVID-19 and other emerging diseases. His research interests include identifying biological and behavioral risk factors for HIV and TB transmission; characterizing the clinical progression and treatment of HIV, TB and related infections; development/evaluation of novel point-of-care diagnostics and implementation of research projects to optimize equitable access to healthcare capacity and delivery in resource-limited communities.

Director of Child Health, International Vaccine Access Center
Anita Shet is a pediatrician and a public health specialist and director of the Johns Hopkins Maternal and Child Health India program that focuses on addressing health issues among women, infants and children, and strengthening public health capacity in India. Her interests span maternal and child nutrition, pediatric and adolescent HIV, dengue infections, social determinants of health, childhood immunization and vaccine-preventable diseases. Her practice areas include addressing pandemic-related disruptions of routine childhood vaccination and essential health services, and advocacy efforts to expand vaccine access in India and globally. At present, she also focuses on empowering disadvantaged children and youth to live with good health and dignity.

India Leadership

Deputy Director, BJGMC Clinical Research Site
Dr. Gupte is Deputy Director of the BJGMC-JHU Clinical Research Site, a collaborative research partnership associated with the world’s largest HIV therapeutic trials networks, the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and the International Maternal Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trial Network (IMPAACT). He is also the Director of Data Management and Biostatistics for the center.
Dr. Gupte has more than 20 years of experience in public health research in developing countries and is a recognized leader in biostatistics education in India. Based in Pune, India, Dr. Gupte is the lead statistician for the BJGMC-JHU CRS, which conducts Phase I, II and III clinical trials of therapeutic drug interventions for HIV and co-morbid infections, such as tuberculosis and hepatitis, in adults (including pregnant women) and children.

Chief of Party, Project ACCELERATE
Aditya Singh is Chief of Party for ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the team in New Delhi, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership since October 2019. Aditya presently heads the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s India’s HIV program ACCELERATE which is supported by PEPFAR/USAID for accelerating progress toward the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets and HIV epidemic control by 2030. Specific site-level initiatives are focused on Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur, in addition to implementing a virtual platform and also providing national-level technical assistance.

Clinical Research Site Coordinator, Deputy Director, BJGMC Clinical Research Site
Dr. Suryavanshi is a Medical Anthropologist, researcher and Deputy Director for the Johns Hopkins Centre for Infectious Diseases in Pune, India (CIDI). She has more than 25 years of experience working in the NIH-funded studies as a protocol team member, site co-investigator and lead for social - behavioral science studies in TB, HIV, mental health, substance use, and women’s health. In addition, she has been instrumental in implementing large internationally funded research projects with strong leadership qualities and site management skills. She is serving as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of Capacity Development in HIV and Mental Health Research in Asia (D43 grant from Fogarty NIH)· She has presented her work at national and international conferences and has published study findings in peer-reviewed journals with 70+ publications. Dr. Suryavanshi attended the University of Pune, Maharashtra, India, where she earned her MSc, and Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology. Additionally, she is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Summer Institute of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, where she studied the ethical issues related to human subjects research in developing countries.
Dr. Suryavanshi is a Medical Anthropologist, researcher and Deputy Director for the Johns Hopkins Centre for Infectious Diseases in Pune, India (CIDI). She has more than 25 years of experience working in the NIH-funded studies as a protocol team member, site co-investigator and lead for social - behavioral science studies in TB, HIV, mental health, substance use, and women’s health. In addition, she has been instrumental in implementing large internationally funded research projects with strong leadership qualities and site management skills. She is serving as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of Capacity Development in HIV and Mental Health Research in Asia (D43 grant from Fogarty NIH)· She has presented her work at national and international conferences and has published study findings in peer-reviewed journals with 70+ publications. Dr. Suryavanshi attended the University of Pune, Maharashtra, India, where she earned her MSc, and Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology. Additionally, she is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Summer Institute of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, where she studied the ethical issues related to human subjects research in developing countries.

India Team

Program Manager
Sandeep serves as the Program Manager at the Johns Hopkins India Program and Center for Infectious Diseases (CIDI) in Pune, India. His primary responsibility involves handling partnerships for multi-country clinical trials, working closely with interdisciplinary teams. He provides support to the Pune-based leadership team and collaborates with the U.S.-based team to oversee operations for a diverse range of infectious disease studies. With thirteen years of total experience in program management and research, Sandeep is adept at designing and implementing various public health initiatives. He also possesses hands-on expertise in grants lifecycle management and impact evaluation.
Joining the team in 2023, Sandeep previously spent nine years with Tata Trusts, India's oldest and largest philanthropic organization. Sandeep holds a degree in Public Health Administration from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Program Administrator
Dr. Minal is a Program Administrator at the Johns Hopkins India Office, Centre for Infectious Diseases in India along with BJGMC-JHU clinical research site, Pune, India. Her responsibilities are managing program activities at the BJGMC & other sites in Pune. she works closely with leadership & support tracking the progress of ongoing projects, assisting in BJGMC operations, and facilitating collaborations with partner institutions.
Minal has 7+ years of experience in public health, project management, monitoring, & evaluation. She has diverse experience working with public & private organizations. She has previously worked with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi, where she worked in various public health programs focusing on Supply chain, Maternal health, Child & adolescent health.
She holds a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy Economics and Finance with a focus on health financing, Global public health studies from Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai, India.

Data Manager
Aparna Nijampurkar is working as a Data Manager at the BJGMC-JHU Clinical Research Site, Pune, India for the Network as well as Non-Network Clinical studies and is responsible for the day-to-day data management activities at the site. She works closely with the study coordinators, clinicians, all clinic staff, and data staff to ensure the accuracy and quality of the data. 
She has done B.Sc. in Physics and has overall 20 years of work experience with BJGMC CTU and 6 years of experience in her current position as Data Manager with BJGMC CTU.
She is trained in HSP-GCP and HIPPA guidelines. She is responsible for all data management activities at the site, including QA/QC of CRFs/source documents, supervising QA/QC officers and QC activities. Supervise data entry of CRFs, submit data to FSTRF DMC, coordinate with clinicians and other staff for completion of CRFs and resolve queries generated during QC process and those received from FSTRF DMC.

Monitoring and Evaluation Lead (SPMU, Telangana)
Devanga Vatti Ashok is the Monitoring and Evaluation Lead for ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the SPMU (State Project Management Unit) team in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership from July 2020. Devanga Vatti Ashok is responsible for developing and implementing appropriate monitoring systems for tracking program activities and results. He manages electronic tablet-based data collection and is responsible for reviewing the functioning of monitoring systems and identifying areas for improvement. He implements data quality assessment, supports the program to generate and disseminate evidence to the wider community, and provides regular updates on project progress against key performance indicators for planning, monitoring, review, and reporting.

Study Coordinator
Dr. Gauri Dhumal is the Study Coordinator for ‘HATHI’ study, ‘Hybrid trial for Alcohol reduction among people with TB and HIV in India’. This project, a randomized clinical trial is aimed at testing scalable, culturally relevant, evidence-based alcohol interventions to facilitate the rapid integration of effective interventions into TB and HIV/TB care in low-resource settings in India.
Dr. Dhumal has completed a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Pune. Dr. Dhumal has over 16 years of experience in public health research, project management, implementation, & other aspects of public health issues.
She has published 22 peer-reviewed papers in international & national journals. She has presented research findings at conferences, both nationally and internationally, further solidifying her standing within the scientific community. Her experience also includes successful project management, highlighted by securing the SEED funding from USAID for a pilot proposal on identifying the most preferred psychosocial intervention for the youths and young adults diagnosed with MDR-TB.

Community and Outreach Coordinator
Savita Kanade, Community and Outreach Coordinator, BJGMC-JHU CRS, Pune India. She has a postgraduate degree in Anthropology from Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune. She has done Masters in Population Sciences from IIPS, Mumbai and Diploma in Health Care and Management in Tropical Countries from Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
Since 1992 she has worked in various areas of the health sector like Maternal Mortality, Gender Based Domestic Violence, Sexual & Reproductive Health, Abortion, Sexual Education and Mental Health.
She has been associated since 2007. She carries the responsibility of patient’s recruitment and Retention for various studies. She is closely working with NTEP program, MSACS, HIV/AIDS NGOs. She also holds a position of CAB Staff Liaison where she manages required duties related to Community Advisory Board. She is a member as Social Scientists of Ethics Committee of KEM Hospital Research Centre, Pune and Foundation of Medical Research (FMR), Mumbai.

MEL Director
Ajay Kumar Reddy Enugu is MEL Director with the ACCELERATE project at the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the team in Hyderabad, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership for two and half years. 
Ajay Kumar Reddy Enugu is responsible for complying with the monitoring, evaluation, and learning guidance from President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) which provides support to the project.

Assistant Study Coordinator
Devina Ganvir, the Asst. Study Coordinator at Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India (JH-CIDI) Clinical Trial Unit, boasts over Nine years of diverse experience in clinical research, public health, and project management. With a keen expertise in coordinating and assisting the Senior Tb Manager on complex studies, she currently oversees two significant projects: the Dynamics and Immune Mechanisms of QFT Response in Close Contacts of TB Cases and the RePORT India Phase II Common Protocol, additionally, she is working on the newly approved TB Pure study. Devina excels in managing multi-faceted clinical trials, ensuring compliance with rigorous regulatory standards, and implementing effective patient recruitment and retention strategies. Her strong background in public health enhances her ability to navigate the challenges of clinical research, while her project management skills ensure the seamless execution of studies. Dedicated to advancing medical knowledge and improving patient outcomes.

Data Manager
Sameer Khan is Data Manager for the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Govt Medical College - Clinical Research Site (BJGMC-CRS) in Pune, India for clinical studies funded by NIH - DAIDs trial networks: Advanced Clinical Therapeutics Globally (ACTG) and International Maternal Paediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT). He has a total experience of 32 years in computer science including 22 years in clinical data management. He is trained in HSP-GCP and HIPPA guidelines. Responsible for overall QA-QC activities, staff supervision and training, coordinate with study coordinators.
He worked as Database Administrator cum QA/QC administrator on a collaborative, NIH-funded clinical trial conducted by Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA and BJ Medical College titled “Prevention of Maternal to Infant HIV Transmission in India: A Randomized Clinical Trial ‐ A Single Dose of Nevirapine (NVP) to Mothers and a Single Dose to Infants Compared to Additional NVP to Breast‐fed Infants Until 6 Weeks Postpartum (SWEN Study).

Laboratory Manager
Vandana Kulkarni has a master’s degree in microbiology and has completed the Professional Development Program for Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs in Biopharmaceutical Industry.
Ms. Kulkarni is Laboratory Manager at Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College Clinical Research Site (BJMC-CRS) in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, where she has worked since September of 2004. During the last 11 years, she has worked in the research laboratory providing lab support to NIH-funded ACTG and IMPAACT trials as well other studies.
She is responsible for the overall operations of the research laboratory and for supervision of laboratory staff comprising laboratory supervisors and technicians, and evaluates personnel competency and proficiency as well as waste management, vendor development for instrument purchase, and maintenance contracts. She also is responsible writing and revising all laboratory standard operating procedures (SOPs), for training staff in new methodologies as required, and for ensuring that laboratory and staff operate under Good Clinical Laboratory Practices.

Study Coordinator
Abhay Kadam is a Medical Anthropologist associated with Johns Hopkins India for 16 years and has 23 years of public health research experience in India. He completed his postgraduation from the Department of Anthropology, Pune University. His final year dissertation was in Forensic Facial Reconstruction, exploring the use of two-dimensional human skull radiographs to build a three-dimensional skull and subsequently a face using the reconstruction method. His key interest areas are mental health, infectious diseases, and digital health. His work experience mainly comprises research studies funded by NIH, CDC, European Union, and Gates Foundation and conducted in collaboration with international consortium partner universities, Government agencies, National Disease Control Programs, and non-governmental organizations at national, state, and district levels.

Study Coordinator & Regulatory Coordinator
Smita Nimkar is Study Coordinator for TREATAsia studies, and Regulatory Coordinator &  IRB/EC Liaison for the clinical research site (CRS) at BJ Government Medical College (BJGMC) in Pune, India. The BJGMC CRS is part of the JHU Baltimore- India Clinical Trials Unit (JHUBI-CTU), which conducts clinical trials under the NIH ACTG and IMPAACT Trial Networks—along with the Johns Hopkins CRS (Baltimore, MD). She works with the India research team to ensure training on and compliance with scientific regulatory standards at all levels. She is a Director of the Training and Education Committee of JHUBI.  She is serving on various ACTG committees. Smita has worked in healthcare for more than 20 years, and her experience includes HIV/AIDS, TB, and other comorbidities. She has implemented several research projects on mental health, and communicable and non-communicable diseases. Currently, she is a trainee ESI under Fogarty-IeDEA Mentorship Program (FIMP) from Asia-Pacific region.

Director (Transgender Health)
Dr. Kanchan Pawar (she/her) is a primary care physician and Director (Transgender Health) for ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership since 2022. Before joining JHU, she was the medical officer for ACCELERATE's Mitr Clinic in Pune, a community-led clinic model supported by PEPFAR and USAID, which provides comprehensive HIV and non-HIV services to the transgender community. In her role, Kanchan leads initiatives for strengthening and sustaining Mitr clinics and other service delivery models to ensure the health and well-being of transgender populations. She also provides support, capacity building, and mentoring at the site, state, and national levels to strengthen health equity in India.

Senior Manager- TB Research
Dr. Paradkar is Senior Manager-TB Research and an early-stage investigator for the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India (JH-CIDI), based at the BJ Government Medical College-Johns Hopkins University Clinical Research Site (BJGMC-JHU-CRS), Pune, India. He is the Operations Working Group Chair for Regional, Prospective, Observational Research in Tuberculosis (RePORT India) Consortium and implements RePORT studies at the site including the parent protocol (CTRIUMPh), Common protocols and the biomarker substudies- RICC Pediatric Transcriptomics (UCT-Imperial college), TB T Cell study (Emory), COMBO (UCSF), GWAS (Emory), Nanopore (Tulane) studies; and led TBM Kids (NICHD) and CATALYST (UNITAID) pediatric trials at the site. He is coordinating the Quantiferon study (Rutgers); pharmacokinetics study of delaminid (IMPAACT 2005) and phase 1 pretomanid trial (IMPAACT 2034) for pediatric rifampicin-resistant TB. He is a trained Pediatrician (2007-09), IMPAACT Young Investigator awardee (2011-12), Commonwealth Masters Public Health Scholar (2014-15), and a RePORT International Postdoctoral Fellow (2024-26).

Data Manager/Analyst
Dr. Padum Narayan is Data Manager/Analyst for ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the team in New Delhi, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership since 2019. He is providing technical assistance to NACO on various strategic information-related activities including the development of technical briefs, research compendiums, research study proposals, primary and secondary data analysis. He is also providing technical assistance to NACO on Stigma and Discrimination studies and on the designing of Fast Track Cities Initiative and its implementation across the cities in India. Padum Narayan received his PhD in Statistics from the Department of Statistics, Gauhati University and Master of Science in Health Statistics from Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University. He has more than a decade of experience in monitoring and evaluation, research and data analysis.

Clinical Coordinator
Dr. Sandesh Patil holds position of “Senior Manager-HIV” with the John Hopkins Centre for Infectious Diseases in India (CIDI), India and serves at BJMC-CRS, in Pune, India. He has more than 18 years of experience in clinical research and has worked in different capacities including as Research Officer and Study Clinician, Clinical Coordinator, Study coordinator and Senior manager, in NIH-funded ACTG and IMPAACT network clinical trials.
In addition to his Masters in Public Health degree, he has a postgraduate degree in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He has a track record of leading and managing large NIH funded ACTG and IMPAACT network clinical trials since 2008.

Tuberculosis Laboratory Manager
Neeta Pradhan is a Medical Microbiologist holding a post graduate degree in Medical Microbiology (MSc- Medical Microbiology) and working in the laboratory field for more than 25 years with a total experience of more than 15 years in the Clinical Research field.
She has worked as a Laboratory Coordinator at NARI (National AIDS Research Institute) Clinical Trial Unit for various NIH projects like-- HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), - AIDS Clinical Trial Group (ACTG), - Microbicide Trial Network (MTN).
She has also handled Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) projects.
She is currently working as a TB Laboratory Manager at Center of Infectious Diseases -India (CIDI) in Pune, India to overlook all the work that is carried out at the BJMC- CTU CRS site as well as all the other sites that collaborate with JHU.

Prevention Lead
Yeruva Anthony Reddy is Prevention Lead for ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the SPMU (State Project Management Unit) team in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership from July 2020. Yeruva Anthony Reddy is responsible for providing mentorship, supportive supervision, strategic direction and capacity building for all HIV prevention-related ACCELERATE activities in Telangana. He is responsible for implementing prevention and testing components of an initiative called I-THRiVE: Index Testing & Targeting HIV Retention and Viral Load Suppression for Epidemic Control. The aim will be to accelerate implementation of effective strategies in case finding, retention, and viral load coverage in five cluster districts to make the greatest impact on the HIV prevention to care cascade for all vulnerable populations with a focus on key populations in Telangana.

Study Manager/Clinician
Dr. Priyanka Raichur is a Study manager/Clinician at the John Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India (CIDI) and the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College – Johns Hopkins University Clinical Research Site (BJGMC-JHU CRS), in Pune, India. She has over 12 years of experience at BJGMC-JHU CRS as a study clinician/coordinator and has worked on several observational and interventional projects related to HIV-TB and infectious diseases in adult and pediatric populations. These include the Antimicrobial Resistance study (AMR), C-TRIUMPH study, TBDM study, ICMR – Paediatric TB project, and the SHINE study, which was a large multicentric TB therapy shortening trial among Paediatric patients with minimal TB.
She is currently working as a Study manager/Clinician for the PraGaTHi and PPDM studies; study coordinator/clinician for the BEAT TB and PREEMPT studies and study clinician for the Phoenix study.

Statistician & Junior Data Manager
Akhil is a Statistician at the BJGMC-JHU clinical research site, Pune, India. He is responsible for the data management and analysis of the HATHI (Hybrid Trial for Alcohol reduction among people with TB and HV in India) study. His academic career includes post-graduation in Biostatistics and Demography from International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India and Statistics from Pondicherry Central University, India. Prior joining BJGMC-JHU, he worked with INCLEN Trust International as Biostatistician.

Study Coordinator
Bharat Randive is a public health researcher with more than 15 years of experience conducting clinical and health systems research in India.
He is currently managing the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded program Global Action in Healthcare Network (GAIHN) - Antimicrobial Resistance, India, implementing enhanced infection control and prevention driven by targeted surveillance for carbapenem and colistin-resistant organisms at five large medical institutions. He has also coordinated large-scale multi-site surveillance for neonatal sepsis and antimicrobial resistance in NICUs in India.
He has recently implemented the project of scaling up short-course TB-preventing therapy (3HP) for high-risk populations in collaboration with Aurum Institute, South Africa, JHU, and B J Govt Medical College, Pune, India. This was India's first large-scale demonstration project involving short-course Rifapentine and Isoniazid (3HP) as an alternative to six months of IPT for TB prevention.

Finance & Operations Lead
Abhishek Kumar Sinha is the Finance and Operations Lead for ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the team in New Delhi, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership for 4+ years. At CIDI, Abhishek is responsible for the overall grant management for the ACCELERATE and Elton John AIDS Foundation projects in India. He is responsible for partner management, budgets, reporting, and audits. Prior to joining CIDI, he worked with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), EPoD at Harvard Kennedy School, John Snow Inc, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), CARE and UN Organizations. He is an accomplished professional with close to 25 years of combined experience working in the development sector managing the operations and finances for grants valuing up to USD 50 million.

Treatment Lead
Dr. Sreedhar is Treatment Lead at ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the team in Telangana, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership for 1.5 years. Dr Sreedhar is responsible for the following activities: Providing mentorship, supportive supervision, strategic direction and capacity building for all HIV treatment-related ACCELERATE activities in Telangana; Working closely with ART centres and community groups to ensure saturation and quality of services in Telangana; Providing technical assistance to ART centres to implement multi-month dispensing and TLD (Tenofovir, Lamivudine, and Dolutegravir,) roll-out; Assisting with the development, implementation, and evaluation of decentralized and community/integrated care models for HIV care; Developing systems and provide technical assistance with tracking losses to follow-up and improving retention. Dr. Sreedhar received an MBBS from the Osmania Medical College in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, under the NRT University of Health Sciences.

Knowledge Management Specialist
Rishi S. Baba is a public health professional with experience in knowledge management, communication, and advocacy across health domains like HIV, nutrition, and LGBTIQA+ health. He has collaborated with organizations like USAID, IFPRI, and BMGF, leading impactful social media campaigns, creating communication materials for stakeholder engagement and managing projects that integrate research and policy advocacy. With skills in program management and cross-agency collaboration, he also focuses on bringing out issues of marginalized groups through communication strategies to ensure their equity and inclusivity.

Manager Administration, ACCELERATE
Mr. Arjun Chettri is the Administrative Manager, ACCELERATE, for the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India and has worked with the CIDI partnership for over three years with the goals of; Build and maintain relationships with all department heads, external partners, and vendors to make decisions regarding operational activity and strategic goals; Plan, monitor, and analyze key metrics for the day-to-day performance of the operations to ensure efficient and timely completion of tasks; Devise strategies to ensure the growth of programs enterprise-wide, identifying and implementing process improvements that will maximize output and minimize costs; Uphold organization policies and standards, ensuring legislative regulations are followed; Supervise, coordinate and execute all domestic and international travel arrangements for JHU India staff including organizing a big event of 150 participants for the NACO (National AIDS Control Organization) under the USAID project.

Technical Director
Manish Bamrotiya is the technical director for ACCELERATE at the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the team in Delhi, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership for 3 years. Manish Bamrotiya is responsible for; providing strategic and technical guidance to translate project vision into activities implemented in six high-burden districts in India; liaising with National, State, District, and Institution level health system officials to ensure that project activities are in accordance with the Government’s vision and priorities; Guiding and working with the implementation team in rolling-out new approaches for improving outcomes along the HIV continuum of care with a particular focus on the downstream steps of ART initiation and viral suppression.

Senior Program Manager
Dr. Jiban Jyoti Baishya is the Senior Program Manager at the Johns Hopkins University. He holds an M.B.B.S. degree from Gauhati Medical College and a master's degree in Health Administration from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. He also completed a program in Principles of STD/HIV Research at the University of Washington. Dr. Baishya has an extensive background, having worked with USAID, SHARE INDIA, the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), UNICEF, WHO, and the Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi.

Pharmacist of Record
Sadaf Inamdar is working as Pharmacy Manager/Pharmacist of Record at B J Government Medical College CRS, Pune. She is B. Pharm and well qualified with 23 years of experience in clinical Research. She has been managing IND and non-IND DAIDS sponsored clinical trials and providing pharmaceutical support within a highly regulated research environment. Her experience includes Study Product Management, Supervision and training of the pharmacy staff, Establishment and implementation of internal policies and procedures, Confidentiality, Informed Consent Verification, Study Product information (Package Inserts/Investigator’s Brochures), maintaining scientific integrity of blinded studies, QA/QC management, Inventory Control, Randomization procedures, Study Products preparation and dispensing, Counseling the study participants regarding the study treatment, Study drug adherence monitoring, completing Case Report Forms (CRFs), Record keeping and the Study Product Destruction. She is also handling Drug Regulatory Applications in India.

Behavioral Scientist
Dr. Prashant is Behavioral Scientist at Johns Hopkins Centre for Infectious Diseases in India (CIDI) Pune. He has completed his doctorate degree in Anthropology from Savitribai Phule Pune University. He has completed a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Physics, a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Anthropology from Pune University, and a Master in Population Sciences (M.P.S.) from the International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS). He has been working in qualitative and quantitative aspects of Health Policy Systems Research and Community Based Research for the past 20 years in the field of communicable diseases, human sexuality, tribal health, mental health, and maternal child health. He is a reviewer for various international conferences and journals as well as written articles on anthropological topics for Marathi Encyclopedia. He is also a social scientist) of the IC-SCR (Institutional Committee- Stem Cell Research) Biomedical Sciences of Symbiosis International University.

Assistant Director of Research Programs
Dr. Aastha Kant is the Assistant Director of Research Programs at the Johns Hopkins Maternal and Child Health Center in India, where she oversees programmatic activities. Holds a Ph.D in Social Sciences from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and received her training in Sociology with her Master of Arts (MA) from the University of Pune and Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi. She has prior experience at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health- India Research Center, TISS, and Population Council- India Country Office. Her research interest focuses on the social and behavioral aspects of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health.

Study Coordinator
Mr. Marbaniang is currenlty pursuing a PhD in epidemiology at McGill University in Montreal.
He is former Study Coordinator at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College Clinical Research Site (BJGMC-CRS) in Pune, India, where he coordinated, he antimicrobial/acute febrile illness and non-communicable diseases in HIV studies. He remains active in research with the Indo-JHU clinical research partnership.
He received his Master of Public Health degree concentrating in epidemiology and biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in June 2015, where he was a Fulbright scholar and recipient of the Ruth Rice Puffer scholarship. He completed his medical education at Christian Medical College, Vellore, and joined the BJMC-CRS in October 2015.

Research Clinician
Dr. Nevrekar is a Clinical Coordinator for the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India (JH-CIDI) and is based at the BJGMC-JHU-CRS in Pune, India.
She is coordinating various clinical trials funded by the NIH through the AIDS Clinical Trials Group ACTG & IMPAACT at the BJGMC-JHU CRS. Currently, Dr. Nevrekar is leading a UNITAID-funded trial comparing the treatment completion of daily Isoniazid (INH) and Rifapentine (RPT) for one month (1HP) to once weekly of INH and RPT for three months (3HP). Additionally, her work encompasses clinical trials focused on HIV-TB transmission, antiretroviral and TB treatment strategies, and HIV-associated non-communicable diseases.
Dr. Nevrekar serves as an investigator at the ACTG- Women's Health Collaborative Science Group (WHCSG). She has authored scientific peer-reviewed research. Her research focuses on the well-being of vulnerable populations, particularly pregnant and postpartum women living with HIV-TB co-infection.

Deputy Director, State Program Management Unit (Telangana)
Dr. M.R. Parthasarathy is Deputy Director at ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. He is a member of the team in Hyderabad, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership since 2020. Dr. Parthasarathy is responsible for leadership and strategic direction to the ACCELERATE project and implementing the prevention-to-care continuum cascade in Telangana, a high HIV burden Indian state. He is providing technical assistance and support to Telangana State AIDS Control Society, under the National AIDS Control Organization, to reach the epidemic control targets. He carries out program management, mentoring, and stakeholder management for all the ACCELERATE activities, managing resources, providing technical oversight, and monitoring the key result areas of the project including index testing, HIV treatment initiation and retention, HIV-TB and viral load suppression among the key and general population. Before joining ACCELERATE. Dr. Parthasarathy worked with FHI 360, SHARE INDIA and VHS under Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and PEPFAR/USAID and CDC, India, holding senior-level technical and leadership positions. He carries experience mentoring Asian and African countries in the arena of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections.

IT Engineer
Harshad Patil is working as an IT Engineer since 2021. He is an experienced IT Engineer with a strong background in providing comprehensive technical support and managing complex network infrastructures. With over a decade of experience on the site, Harshad specializes in Active Directory, firewall management, VPN configurations, and troubleshooting across various operating systems. He is committed to ensuring seamless IT operations, enhancing system availability, and delivering exceptional service to the users. Harshad also has experience in setting up secure network environments and managing cloud-based services. His expertise extends to both onsite and remote IT support. Harshad holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Application, is a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA).

Data Manager
Swapnil Raskar is a Data Manager for Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India (JH-CIDI) and is based at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College-Johns Hopkins University Clinical Research Site (BJGMC-JHU-CRS) in Pune, India. for TB Studies.
He has 13 years of experience in clinical data management.
He joined BJGMC-CRS in June 2013. Before joining BJGMC-JHU-CRS, he worked with a couple of CROs and has good experience in all phases of data management, like setting up studies on different database platforms (like REDCap, Medidata Rave, Inform), study conduct and closeout activities.
Mr. Raskar is trained in HSP-GCP and HIPPA guidelines. He is responsible for all data management activities at the site. He coordinates with study team to develop Protocol, Source Documents/CRFs, Visit Checklists and supervises data management staff.

Director of Programs
Jalpa H. Thakker is the Director of Programs at ACCELERATE with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Infectious Diseases in India. She is a member of the team in Delhi, India, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership for four years. She leads the operations on virtual interventions, digital interventions in care and support, and innovations in the private sector. She brings more than 10 years of experience in managing innovations and scaling programs in the field of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. She is a public health specialist, along with a background in homeopathic medicine and surgery. Jalpa received an MBA (Health Management) from the IIHMR University in Jaipur. Dr. Suryavanshi has established extensive networks with regional non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local TB and HIV programs. She has developed and co-developed various social and behavioural projects. During the past 22 years, she has overseen the clinical research studies related to HIV/AIDS and TB at of BJGMC-JHU Clinical research site in Pune, India.

Senior Behavioural Scientist
Dr. Shatabdi Bagchi is a Senior Behavioral Scientist at the CIDI and BJGMC-JHU Clinical Research Site in Pune, India. She holds a Master's degree in Social Work from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, and a PhD in Behavioral health from the National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. She has over a decade of experience in implementing programs and managing research studies focused on socio-behavioral health and health systems research. She has worked extensively with several vulnerable populations across multiple states in India, including people with HIV and Tuberculosis, alcohol use disorder, indigenous populations, women and children, and migrants. Dr. Bagchi specializes in mixed-method and qualitative research. Presently, she’s working in the Hybrid Trial for Alcohol Reduction among People with TB and HIV in India.

Biospecimen Repository Manager
Rohit Kale, with a master’s in Microbiology and 10 years of experience in QC- Microbiology & QMS in Bio-pharmaceutical industries, has been working as bio-repository manager for 1.5 years at BJGMC-CTU; a site for ACTG and IMPAACT studies. He has been leading in clinical research specimen storage and shipping management and has been involved in supervising routine activities belonging to repository sections activities that mainly includes specimen entries, specimen storage, QAQC, shipments, query resolutions and TMS. He is also responsible for communication with the cross-functional sections for the specimen management.

Biostatistician
Vedika Potphode serves as a biostatistician at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Infectious Diseases in India (CIDI) Pune and has accumulated almost 2 years of professional experience. She holds a postgraduate degree in Statistics from Pune University. Her primary responsibilities include managing databases for two pivotal studies under Treat Asia: the BEAT TB Asia study, an interrupted time series mixed-methods aimed at identifying a behavioral economics approach to overcome barriers to TPT delivery in public clinics in the Philippines, Indonesia, and India; and the Lung Morbidity Cohort Study, a longitudinal observational cohort study with staggered enrolment over four years that aims to characterize the prevalence and risk of lung cancer using non-contrast computed tomography, and other pulmonary multimorbidity among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Pune, India. Vedika's expertise extends to analysing public health data and extracting meaningful insights crucial for contributing to the advancement of public health research.

Statistician
Mrunmayi works as a Statistician at the BJGMC-JHU clinical research site, Pune, India with an overall experience of about 4 years. She is involved in the Global Action in Healthcare Network (GAIHN) - Antimicrobial Resistance India projects that are sponsored by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She is responsible for the data management and analysis at five sites for the GAIHN-AR, GAIHN-IPC and SHEPheRD-Domain 4 studies. She has also assisted researchers with statistical analysis for studies like TBDM, CTRIUMPH and PRACHITi. She has completed her Bachelors in Statistics (B.Sc.) from Fergusson College, Pune and holds a Masters in Statistics (M.Sc.) from Savitribai Phule Pune University. Prior to CIDI, she has worked as a Supply Chain Analyst in Novartis Healthcare Pvt Ltd.

Biostatistician
Gayatri is a biostatistician at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Infectious Diseases in India (CIDI) at Pune and has 2 years of experience. She has completed post-graduation in Statistics from Savitribai Phule Pune University, India.
She is currently working on different studies related to HIV and Tuberculosis and responsible for the data management and analysis of studies such as PLHIV-Lung Morbidity Cohort Study (TREATAsia) at BJ Government Medical College (BJGMC) in Pune and Tuberculosis (TB) Aftermath study (NIH) based at the Dr. D. Y Patil University, Pune.

Study Coordinator
Shahanara joined the team as a Study Co-ordinator in January 2023. Her role involves assisting the study PI and site coordinators in carrying out protocol related activities and monitoring for post TB related studies across sites in Pune.
She is a clinician with a background of working in reproductive health before setting out to work in the domain of public health research. She has worked with institutes like the ICMR- National Institute for Research in Reproductive and Child Health and National AIDS Research Institute in Pune as a clinical scientist, on various projects, involving clinical trials as well as M&E roles with WHO.

Microbiologist
Sweety Singh is a microbiologist having more than four years of experience in field of Clinical Microbiology, molecular diagnostics, research, and academics, currently based at the BJ Government Medical College-Johns Hopkins University Clinical Research Site (BJGMC-JHU-CRS) in Pune, India.
She, at present manages lab research for Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded program Global Action in Healthcare Network (GAIHN) - Antimicrobial Resistance, India Enhanced infection control and prevention driven by targeted surveillance for carbapenem resistant Gram-negative organisms at BJGMC- JHU-CRS, DY Patil, Bharti Vidyapeeth Hospital in Pune, P.D Hinduja in Mumbai and Medanta in Gurugram.
After completing her post-graduation in medical microbiology from University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) & Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (GTB), Delhi, she worked as Senior resident on AMR project funded by NCDC and COVID-19 lab for SARS-CoV-2 reporting at BJGMC, Pune. Her keen interest lie in antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial stewardship, and whole genome sequencing.

Infection Prevention & Control Officer
My name is Kavita Sangma, and I am from Guwahati, Assam. I have completed B.Sc. in Medical Microbiology from HNB Garhwal University and M.Sc. in Microbiology from Jiwaji University, M.P. I also completed PGDHQM from TISS Mumbai in 2020 while continuing my work in healthcare.
I have over nine years of experience as a Hospital Infection Preventionist. Since October 2023, I have been working with JHIPL as an Infection Prevention & Control Officer under the GAIHN AR Project. My responsibilities include overseeing infection prevention activities at Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College Hospital Pimpri, BJGMC Sassoon Hospital Pune, and Hinduja Hospital Mumbai.
I am happy to be associated with JHIPL and look forward to contributing further to the future.

Affiliated Faculty

Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Vanderbilt University
Kelly Dooley, MD, PhD, MPH, is a Professor of Medicine, and Director of the Division of Infectious Disease within the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).
As an infectious disease specialist and clinical pharmacologist, Dr. Dooley maintains an active clinical practice in HIV care. Her research focuses on tuberculosis therapeutics with an emphasis on clinical trials of TB drugs and HIV/TB co-treatment, as well as clinical pharmacology of TB and HIV drugs. She is lead investigator for trials of therapeutics for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB, TB-HIV, and pediatric TB meningitis. She is on the TB scientific committees of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group and IMPAACT networks, and is a consultant to World Health Organization on TB therapeutics and pharmacology.

Assistant Professor, Boston University
Dr. Gupte is Assistant Professor of Global Health at the Boston University School of Public Health. His research is focused on the intersection of infectious and chronic lung diseases in low- and middle-income settings. He is the PI/multi-PI of NIH funded Indo-US collaborative studies to describe the epidemiology and pathogenesis of lung impairment in tuberculosis (TB)/HIV/diabetes, measure its impact on poor clinical outcomes, and identify therapeutic and programmatic interventions to improve post-TB lung health and longevity. Dr. Gupte serves on several multi-national TB/HIV research consortia and is Chairperson of the Clinical and Epidemiology Working Group of the RePORT-India TB Research Consortium. Dr. Gupte completed his medical training in India, Master’s and Doctoral training from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and has previously served as faculty in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Associate Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College
Dr. Mathad is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the the Center for Global Health at Weill Cornell Medical College. She is also a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education.
Her primary research interests include the immune and metabolic changes of pregnancy and their impact on the pathogenesis of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB). She has been conducting NIH-funded research in Pune, India, since 2010 when she studied the performance of immune-based latent TB diagnostics in pregnant women with and without HIV. She then led the PRACHITi study (NICHD R01HD081929) there, which investigated the impact of stage of pregnancy and HIV on the immune response to M. tuberculosis.

Assistant Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Rupak Shivakoti, PhD, MSPH, is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and an affiliated member of the faculty at CIDI. His formal training is in immunology, infectious diseases, and epidemiology.
Dr. Shivakoti’s primary research interest focuses on the central role of inflammation in HIV and TB outcomes, both in adult and maternal-infant populations. In addition, he is interested in the relationship of nutrition and gut microbiome with inflammation and health outcomes. He is the PI of NIH-funded projects related to these topics and conducted in diverse international settings, with a strong focus in India. More about Dr. Shivakoti's work can be found in the tabs below.
After completing his undergraduate degree in biology from DePauw University, Dr. Shivakoti received a MSPH in international health and a PhD in molecular microbiology and immunology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Assistant Professor, Yale School of Public Health
Dr. Brian Wahl is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Wahl has worked for almost twenty years to advance the prevention and control of infectious diseases, focusing on low- and middle-income countries. He is particularly interested in exploring how new interventions and policies affect the epidemiology of these respiratory pathogens in children.
Dr. Wahl leads field studies and uses mathematical modeling to address critical questions about infectious disease control performance, optimization, and equity. He is also passionate about strengthening public health research and epidemiology competencies among health professionals in various settings, including India and Nepal.

Pediatric Infectious Diseases Physician
Lakshmi Ganapathi is a pediatric infectious diseases physician and investigator in the Divisions of Pediatric Global Health and Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research in India is focused on young people in key populations, and adolescents and young adults with perinatal HIV. Her work centers on understanding the unique vulnerabilities of young people in key populations, characterizing disparities they experience in the receipt of health services, and developing and implementing differentiated care interventions for youth to facilitate engagement in substance use treatment, HIV care and health services broadly. Her specific interests are in participatory action-based research, behavioral intervention development and testing, and implementation science.

US Team

Multimedia Systems Specialist
Matthew Williams is CIDI's Multimedia Specialist. He broadcasts live events, including case discussions, topic lectures, and conferences, and connects with sites around the globe for videoconferencing. In addition to editing and updating multimedia content, he provides IT support to faculty and staff and contributes to ongoing web development. Matt has been with Johns Hopkins Division of Infectious Diseases for more than 33 years, and is a founding member of both CIDI and its predecessor, CCGHE.

Research Program Manager, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Senior Research Data Analyst
Jade Bell is a senior research data analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Infectious Diseases in India. She is a team member in Baltimore, Maryland, and has worked with the Johns Hopkins-India infectious diseases partnership since November 2020. Jade is responsible for data monitoring and analysis of programmatic data. Prior to joining CIDI, Jade worked as an epidemiologist for the Center for HIV Prevention and Health Services at the Maryland Department of Health. Jade received an MPH from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA.

Senior Research Program Manager
Michael Iacobelli joined CIDI in October 2024 and supports Dr. Gupta across her research portfolio. Mr. Iacobelli is a graduate of the George Washington University School of Public Health, receiving a master’s in public health, focusing on global health in 2011. He has worked in both private and public sector across multiple domains of health care research. From 2015 to 2022, he led a multi-country tobacco control program, focusing on cigarette packaging and advertising in low- and middle-income countries. Most recently, he worked in the Department of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, managing NIH and industry funded clinical trials, with an emphasis on brain injury.

Communications Specialist
Colter Billings is a Communications Specialist for GKII, CIDI, and RePORT International. He creates content and manages projects that amplify the mission and work of the GKII and the CIDI. Generating and executing cross-platform communications plans, developing strategic messaging, tracking engagement and coordinating with other JHU communications teams are elements of that role. He joined CIDI and GKII after four years as the Content and Marketing Strategist for Missouri State University-West Plains. He received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media from Northeastern University in Boston and is working on a MA in Communications from Johns Hopkins University.

Senior Communications Manager
Molly Bowen is Senior Communications Manager. She joined CIDI at its founding in 2022 and worked for its predecessor, CCGHE, beginning in 2015. She has more than 20 years of experience in infectious diseases communications.

Senior Research Assistant
Spurthi Kodali graduated with a Master of Public Health (MPH) in May 2024 from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. She has joined the Center for Infectious Diseases India (CIDI) as a Senior Research Assistant. With a background in medicine (M.B.B.S.) from JNMC, KLE, Belgaum, India, Spurthi has experience working in diverse healthcare settings, including community health programs. She aims to contribute to public health through research and community engagement, with a focus on health equity and digital health solutions.

Research Assistant
Rose Pollard Kaptchuk (she/her) is a social science researcher pursuing a PhD in International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She uses mixed methods and participatory approaches to study how to improve HIV services through community-based perspectives. Rose is partnering with ACCELERATE to explore person-centered care as a model to support transgender and gender diverse communities in India.

Regulatory Program Manager
Mr. Riesner is the Regulatory Program Manager/Regulatory Specialist for CIDI. He has worked in various research related roles during the past 15 years and has been with Johns Hopkins University for 14 years. Mr. Riesner has approximately 3 years working as a Regulatory Specialist at CIDI/CCGHE, 5 years of combined experience working at both a commercial IRB and at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine IRB, and 7 years of experience working in other research related roles, including research management and coordination.
Mr. Riesner performs a variety of research regulatory functions for the JHU-India clinical research partnership, including the creation of IRB submissions (initial applications, annual Continuing Reviews of existing studies, amendments, and protocol deviations/events), and reviews of protocols, consent forms, and other research-related documents prior to EC/IRB submission to ensure compliance with US regulations and that US regulatory requirements are met for Johns Hopkins India Private Limited.

Administrative Coordinator

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