Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award

2006 - David Evans, Ph.D.Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, New England National Primate Research Center Southborough, Massachusetts Oral Transmission of Single-Cycle SIV in Neonates Dr. Evans' project will examine the earliest viral and cellular determinants of oral SIV infection in neonatal macaques, and is designed to reveal new insights important to understanding the mechanisms of breast milk transmission of HIV-1 from infected mothers to their infants. 2006 - Margaret Feeney, M.D., M.Sc.Massacusetts General Hospital Boston, Massachusetts 2006 Jewelers for Children Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award The Immune Response to Acute Perinatal HIV Infection Dr. Feeney’s project will involve detailed longitudinal studies of the HIV-specific immune response and viral evolution during the early years following perinatal infection, and will build upon the existing collaboration with Dr. Celia Christie’s Perinatal AIDS Program in Kingston, Jamaica. 2006 - Alexandra Trkola, Ph.D.Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Zurich Zurich, Switzerland The Humoral Immune Response to HIV Dr. Trkola’s project will examine the humoral immune response to HIV in natural infection in order to define which antibody responses successful HIV vaccines should elicit. 2005 - Deborah Persaud, M.D.Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD Dr. Persaud will work to better understand the impact of early exposure to antiretroviral drugs in children who received treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, but who became infected anyway. 2004 - Thomas Hope, Ph.D.University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, Illinois Dr. Hope is using state-of-the-art imaging methodologies to determine the mechanism of maternal-fetal transmission of HIV. 2004 - Grace Aldrovandi, M.D.Children's Hospital Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Dr. Aldrovandi's research seeks to understand how immune cells in breast milk work to suppress HIV. 2003 - Grace John-Stewart, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.University of Washington Seattle, Washington By defining immune responses in babies who resist HIV-1 infection in breast milk, Dr. John-Stewart is looking to identify ways to design and monitor a vaccine to prevent HIV-1 transmission in infants whose mothers choose to breastfeed because of concerns regarding stigma, cost, and infant risk due to formula feeding. 2003 - Paul Bieniasz, Ph.D.Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center/The Rockefeller University New York, New York Dr. Bieniasz has discovered that cells from rhesus macaques and other monkey species express an inhibitor that prevents them from becoming infected by HIV-1. He aims to determine activity of these inhibitors in humans and in monkeys and to define precisely which part of the virus is targeted. 2002 - Spyros A. Kalams, M.D.Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, Tennessee Dr. Kalams is helping to identify the immune defects that lead to more rapid disease progression in children. This will aid in the design of immunotherapeutic strategies to correct these defects, as well as identify the types of immune responses that should be generated by HIV vaccines. 2002 - Jeffrey S.A. Stringer, M.D.University of Alabama Birmingham University of Lusaka - Lusaka, Zambia Dr. Stringer's study is intended to determine the optimal use of the anti-retroviral medication nevirapine to prevent the transmission of HIV from an infected mother to her infant. 2002 - Melissa A. Pope, Ph.D.Center for Biomedical Research, The Population Council New York, New York Dr. Pope's research is seeking to determine whether or not strategies for enhancing dendritic cell function can boost oral vaccine efficiency, a critical step in preventing infection with HIV and other pathogens in children. 2001 - Michael H. Malim, D.Phil.Guy's King's and St. Thomas' Medical School London, England Dr. Malim is seeking to understand how HIV bonds to the proteins Vif and Vpr in order to establish these proteins as potential targets for future anti-retroviral drugs. 2001 - Nina Bhardwaj, M.D., Ph.D.The Rockefeller University New York, New York Dr. Bhardwaj is studying the protective and therapeutic uses of dendritic cells for use in vaccines in children and adults infected with HIV-1. 2001 - Sunil K. Ahuja, M.D.University of Texas San Antonio, Texas Dr. Ahuja is working to understand the genetic determinants that influence mother-to-child transmission of HIV and rate of disease progression in infected children. 2001 - Paul Clapham, Ph.D.University of Massachusetts Medical School Boston, Massachusetts Dr. Clapham is investigating how the use of different receptors influences the cellular tropisms of HIV. 2000 - Paul Krogstad, M.D.University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine Los Angeles, California Dr. Krogstad is studying the role of T-cell production and survival in children and adolescents with HIV/AIDS. 2000 - Douglas F. Nixon, M.B., B.S., D.Phil.The J. David Gladstone Institutes San Francisco, California Dr. Nixon is working to understand how antiviral white blood cells function in pediatric HIV infection, why they malfunction, and how these responses may be augmented or improved. 2000 - Julie Overbaugh, M.D.University of Washington Seattle, Washington Dr. Overbaugh is focused on research to further reduce HIV transmission from mother to infant through breastfeeding. 1999 - Robert W. Doms, M.D., Ph.D.University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Dr. Doms investigated how HIV gets into cells to start an infection in an effort to block it. 1999 - Philip J.R. Goulder, M.R.C.P., D.Phil.University of Oxford Oxford, England Dr. Goulder's study examined the immune response of HIV-infected children in the U.S. and Africa to identify features which will be critical in the development of HIV vaccines. 1999 - Paul Johnson, M.D.Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts Dr. Johnson's studies focused on developing a new approach to help boost immune response against HIV in HIV-infected children. 1998 - Mark B. Fienberg, M.D., Ph.D.Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta, Georgia Dr. Feinberg's research focused on developing a new HIV vaccine approach that would enable the safe and effective immunization of children and adolescents to protect them from HIV infection later in life. 1998 - Dana Gabuzda, M.D.Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Boston, Massachusetts Dr. Gabuzda studied the viral and host factors that lead to immunodeficiency and neurologic disease in pediatric AIDS. 1998 - Nathaniel (Ned) R. Landau, Ph.D.Salk Institute La Jolla, California Dr. Landau worked to understand the regulation of the gene that encodes the major HIV-1 coreceptor, CCR5, thereby understanding the process of mother-to-child HIV transmission and predicting which children are likely to progress rapidly to disease following infection. 1998 - Sarah Rowland-Jones, M.A., D.M., M.R.C.P.Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford Oxford, England Dr. Rowland-Jones' study focused on the immune response to HIV, particularly cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL), or "killer cells," in children with extensive HIV exposure who have apparently resisted infection or who have survived an unusually long time with their HIV infection. 1998 - David Watkins, Ph.D.Wisconsin National Primate Center, University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Dr. Watkins worked to understand whether the cellular immune response can protect neonates and/or infants from infection or alter the course of the disease after HIV infection. 1997 - Bette Korber, Ph.D.Santa Fe Institute Santa Fe, New Mexico Dr. Korber maintained the Foundation's Ariel Project and Long-Term Survivor Study databases, to provide proper analysis as the experiments and auxiliary projects unfolded, and she developed new analytical tools in the process. 1997 - Andrew A. Lackner, D.V.M., Ph.D.New England National Primate Center, Harvard Medical School Southborough, Massachusetts Dr. Lackner's study sought to determine how HIV enters the brain and causes neurologic disease in pediatric patients. 1997 - Katherine Luzuriaga, M.D.Department of Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical Center Worcester, Massachusetts Dr. Luzuriaga's work examined killer T-cell immune responses to HIV-1 infection or vaccination in infants. 1997 - Marta L.Marthas, Ph.D.California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis Davis, California Dr. Marthas' work evaluated strategies to prevent mucosal HIV infection and AIDS in children using the SIV/neonatal-rhesus-macaque model of HIV infection. 1997 - John P. Moore, Ph.D.Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University New York, New York Dr. Moore studied how HIV-1 uses the second receptor CCR-5 to enter CD4+ T-cells, to help design drugs aimed at this process and to understand how the virus interacts with the developing immune systems of children. 1996 - Donald B. Kohn, M.D.Division of Research Immunology and Marrow Transplantation, Children's Hospital Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Dr. Kohn's research sought to develop effective gene therapy for pediatric AIDS in a series of clinical trials to examine whether or not T-cells can be made resistant to HIV. Gene therapy has been used to correct genetic disorders and now is being used to control HIV infection. 1996 - Richard Alan Koup, M.D.University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, Texas Dr. Koup's research sought to determine how natural resistance to HIV-1 infection in infants affects the likelihood of acquiring infection and the rate of progression to AIDS. 1996 - Joseph M. McCune, Ph.D., M.D.The J. Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, San Francisco General Hospital San Francisco, California Dr. McCune sought to understand the effects of HIV-1 on the major organs of blood formation (bone marrow and thymus). His work was designed to enable scientists to better understand why HIV progresses more rapidly in infants than in adults. 1996 - Yves Rivière, D.V.M., Ph.D.Department of Virology and Cellular Immunology, L'Institut Pasteur Paris, France Dr. Rivière's work explored the role of HIV-specific cytotoxic activities in HIV-infected children. This study of immune cells may have determined why some patients die quickly while others live longer, healthier lives after becoming HIV-infected. 1996 - Jerome Zack, Ph.D.University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, AIDS Institute Los Angeles, California Dr. Zack's study examined how HIV destroys specific cells in the developing immune system and ways to combat this destruction.

International Leadership Award

2007 - Assan Jaye, D.V.M., Ph.D.Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratories The Gambia, West Africa Establishment of a Pediatric HIV Clinical and Research Unit for the Study of Pathogenesis and Treatment of Pediatric HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection in The Gambia Dr. Jaye’s project will establish a pediatric HIV unit that will combine clinical and laboratory research in order to provide specialist care for HIV-positive children. In addition, it will be used as a setting to research pediatric HIV infection in West Africa. 2007 - Anneke C. Hesseling, M.D., M.Sc.Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health and Faculty of Health Sciences Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa Integrated HIV/TB Prevention Strategies to Reduce Morbidity in HIV-Infected Women and Their Infants in Highly Endemic Settings: Towards Integrated Comprehensive Maternal and Infant PMTCT Care Dr. Hesseling’s project aims to improve ante- and postnatal prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) care and improve maternal and infant health outcomes by creating an integrated PMTCT program. The program will include routine antenatal maternal child health and tuberculosis (TB) testing and education, routine TB testing, and more. 2007 - Purnima Madhivanan, M.B.B.S., M.PH, Ph.D.Public Health Research Institute (PHRI) Mysore, Karnataka, India Project Kisalaya (“young tender shoot” in Sanskrit): Integrating Traditional Birth Attendants in PMTCT Service Delivery in Mysore District, India Dr. Madhivanan’s project will set up a network of traditional birth attendants trained to identify and counsel pregnant women on prevention of mother-to-child transmission, and to refer antenatal cases to a mobile health care clinic. 2004 - Peter Kazembe, Mb.Ch.B., F.R.C.P.Malawi Medical Relief Trust Lilongwe, Malawi Malawi Pediatric AIDS Treatment and Training Implementation Project 2004 - Clive Maurice Gray, Ph.D.National Institute of Communicable Diseases Johannesburg, South Africa Understanding Mechanisms of T-Cell Immunity in HIV-1 Infected and Exposed Newborns and Children As part of his ILA award, Dr. Gray has created an online learning and networking program for South Africa. The program promotes knowledge and research in the field of HIV pediatric immunology among pediatricians, researchers, registrars, medical students, and others with an interest in pediatric immunology in South Africa. www.immunopaedia.org.za 2004 - Thomas Gordon Egwang, M.Sc., Ph.D.Medical Biotechnology Laboratories Kampala, Uganda Standardized low-tech laboratory assays for sustainable health care of pediatric AIDS patients in resource-poor settings and an intensive re-training program for laboratory workers in the use of these assays in Uganda 2003 - Philippa Musoke, M.B., Ch.B., F.A.A.P.Makerere University Kampala, Uganda Anti-retroviral Therapy for Treatment of HIV-infected Children and Training of Health Care Workers in the Use of These Drugs in a Developing Country Clinic Setting 2003 - Pius Muffih Tih, M.P.H., Ph.D.Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board Northwest Province, Cameroon Leadership Development for Implementation of a National Program for PMTCT in Cameroon 2003 - Tammy Myers, M.D.University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa Childhood HIV/AIDS Management Program 2002 - Dorothy A. Mbori-Ngacha, M.D.University of Nairobi Nairobi, Kenya Easibility and efficacy of "opt-out" antenatal HIV-1 testing to optimize HIV-1 test acceptance and preventive nevirapine therapy in HIV-1 seropositive women 2002 - Francine Noel, M.D.Les Centres GHESKIO (Groupe Haitien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes) Port-au-Prince, Haiti A Model Program for HIV Pediatric Care in Haiti 2002 - Celia D.C. Christie, M.D., D.M. Paeds, M.P.H., F.A.A.P.University of the West Indies Kingston, Jamaica Pediatric and Perinatal HIV/AIDS Leadership Initiative

Operations Research Grants

2008 - Freida Behets, Ph.D., M.P.H.University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo Health Zone-based Assessment of Antenatal and Delivery Services in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Development of Appropriate PMTCT Scale-up Strategies Dr. Behets seeks to improve PMTCT coverage in Kinshasa by gaining an understanding of where and how antenatal and delivery services are provided, including in non-traditional, unsupervised small clinics and practices. The study will collect cross-sectional information using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Subsequently, PMTCT roll-out strategies will be pilot-tested. 2008 - Philippa Musoke, M.D.Makerere University Kampala, Uganda Use of Peers and Sengas to Improve links from PMTCT to Family Care in Urban and Rural settings in Uganda The project seeks to improve: 1) the delivery of ARVs for PMTCT to mothers and their infants; and 2) six-week postpartum visit attendance in three busy urban clinics and one rural clinic, using peers, mobile phones, and Village Health Teams (VHT) in Uganda. 2008 - Freddy Perez, M.D., D.T.M., H,M.Sc.University of Bordeaux/ISPED Harare, Zimbabwe Cost-Effectiveness Modeling of PMTCT Programs in Zimbabwe In Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the Foundation, the Institut de Santé Publique, d'Epidémiologie et de Développement (ISPED), and the local Organization of Public Health Interventions and Development (OPHID), has implemented a pilot program of combination regimens for PMTCT. We will partner this experience with the Cost-effectiveness of Preventing AIDS Complications (CEPAC) team based at Harvard Medical School, to assess the outcomes and cost-effectiveness of strategies to improve PMTCT in Zimbabwe. 2008 - Werner Schimana, M.D.Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Moshi, Tanzania The Effect of an HIV Management (Non-ART) Training Course for Reproductive Child Health (RCH) Service Providers on Outcomes For HIV-Positive Mothers and HIV-Exposed Children RCH nurses in Tanzania provide counseling and testing for PMTCT and family planning, but do not provide any additional HIV-related services. The Foundation plans to train RCH staff in selected sites/districts on HIV staging and non-ART care, and to measure the effect of this training. 2008 - Pius Tih, Ph.D., M.P.H.Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board (CBCHB) Northwest Province, Cameroon Improving the Referral System Between PMTCT and Care and Treatment Sites: The Way Forward to Scaling Up Optimal HIV/AIDS Programs CBCHB’s goal is to reduce the HIV transmission rate in its PMTCT program. This will be done by: 1) Increasing the number of women who are identified as HIV-positive in PMTCT and enrolled into care and treatment; 2) Delivering combination ARV regimens for PMTCT; and 3) Increasing the number of women who adhere to those regimens. 2007 - Benjamin Chi, M.D.University of Alabama at Birmingham/Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) Lusaka, Zambia Non-Virologic Methods to Diagnose Antiretroviral Treatment Eligibility Among HIV-Exposed Infants Under 12 Months 2007 - Cathrien Alons, M.D.Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Maputo, Mozambique Maternal HIV Seroconversion During Pregnancy and Breast-feeding Period: Incidence and Associated Risk Factors 2007 - Francis Martinson, M.D., Ph.D.University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Lilongwe, Malawi Improving Uptake of PMTCT and Integration of HIV-positive Mothers, Partners, and Children Into Long-term Care 2007 - John Odero Ong’ech, M.D.Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Nairobi, Kenya Provision of Care and Early Infant Diagnosis for HIV-Exposed Infants: Evaluation of Maternal and Child (MCH) Model Versus the Comprehensive Care Clinic (CCC) Model Read more about Dr. John Ong'ech

Pediatric HIV Vaccine Research Grants

2008 - Marylyn Addo, M.D., Ph.D.Massachusetts General Hospital Charlestown, Massachusetts Dr. Addo will attempt to determine if regulatory T cells in infants are responsible for the lack of control of HIV infection. The impact of these regulatory T cells on HIV-1 disease progression in infected infants is unknown. This information could be used to enhance the potency of immunotherapeutic interventions or HIV vaccines. 2008 - Grace Aldrovandi, M.D. Children's Hospital Los Angeles, USC Los Angeles, California Dr. Aldrovandi’s project involves the study of breast milk antibodies. From previous work in Zambia, she has samples of breast milk, plasma, and blood from HIV-positive mothers and their babies available to study. Dr. Aldrovandi will study the virus and breast milk antibodies from 700 women who did not transmit the virus to their babies, and compare them to those of 70 women who did transmit HIV to their babies during breast-feeding. 2008 - Dan Barouch, M.D., Ph.D.Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University Boston, Massachusetts Dr. Barouch’s study will investigate the safety and efficacy of novel vaccine candidates in infant rhesus monkeys. This project will allow Dr. Barouch to direct his work in developing these new vaccine candidates from science solely focused on adult populations toward the potential to protect infants from breast-milk transmission of HIV. 2008 - Ed Janoff, M.D.University of Colorado Health Science Center Denver, Colorado Dr. Janoff’s study will investigate the impact of feeding from both the breast and the bottle versus breast-feeding alone on the susceptibility of infants to HIV infection. He will investigate the underlying mechanisms of how mixed feeding might predispose infants to greater risk of HIV infection. 2008 - Shan Lu, M.D., Ph.D.University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester, Massachusetts Dr. Lu will study transmitted viruses with particular focus on the cell surface proteins that allow viral entry. He will study the virus proteins in mothers in comparison to those in their babies. The study will attempt to select those proteins, or parts of them, that elicit antibodies that can block infection.

Two-Year International Scholar Award

2005 - Herbert Kiyingi, Mb.Ch.B.Nsambya Hospital/Medbiotech Lab/EGPAF Collaboration Kampala, Uganda The Effect of Intermittent Presumptive Treatment With Sulfadoxine/Pyrimethamine to Control Malaria, on the Quality of Life and Survival in Ugandan Children Living With HIV/AIDS 2004 - Sam Ononge, M.Med., Mb.Ch.B.Makerere University Kampala, Uganda Expanded Access to PMTCT Services at Mulago Hospital

Two-Year Scholar Award

2005 - Melissa Farrow, Ph.D.College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA Investigation of the expression of anti-HIV APOBEC3 family members 2005 - Vandana Kalia, Ph.D.Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta, Georgia Development of CD8 T Cell Immunological Memory 2005 - Surojit Sarkar, Ph.D.Emory University School of Medicine Atlanta, Georgia Immune Reconstitution and Reversal of T Cell Exhaustion During Chronic Infection 2004 - David Favre, D.V.M., Ph.D.The J. David Gladstone Institutes San Francisco, California HIV-1 Induced Dysfunction of Naïve CD8 T-cells 2004 - Mansun Law, Ph.D.The Scripps Research Institute La Jolla, California Human Neutralizing Antibody Against Clade C HIV-1 2003 - Renate Koenig, Ph.D.The Salk Institute La Jolla, California CCR5 Antagonists: Mechanism and Resistance 2003 - Geraldine Gillespie, Ph.D.Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine Oxford, England Characterization of Cross-Reactive CD8+ T-cell Immunity in HIV-1 Infection and in HIV-1 Vaccine Recipients 2002 - Lionel Berthoux, Ph.D.Columbia University New York, New York A Functional Screen for Cellular Targets of HIV-1 vif 2002 - Margaret Feeney, M.D.Massachusetts General Hospital Charlestown, Massachussetts Immune Control of HIV in Children