Infectious Disease Fellowship Mentors
The following provides a list of our research mentors within and outside of the ID division. Fellows may also work with approved mentors that are not included in these lists. Search our interactive Mentor Database.
Antimicrobial Resistance
| Name | Department | Research Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Janelle Ayres, Ph.D. | Biology | Evolutionary theory to understand microbe regulation of host physiology |
| Connie Benson, M.D. | Medicine | HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, influenza, TB clinical and translational research |
| John Bradley, M.D. | Pediatrics | Innovative therapies for bacterial and viral infections |
| Aaron Carlin, M.D., Ph.D. | Medicine | Emerging Infectious Diseases, Host-pathogen interactions, genome-wide approaches to understanding pathogenesis; developing novel diagnostics and antimicrobials |
| Huitung Chu, Ph.D. | Pathology | Commensal microbe communication with Immune System |
| Shane Crotty, Ph.D. | Medicine | Vaccine Immunology |
| Pieter Dorrestein, Ph.D. | Skagg School of Pharmacy | Mass Spectrometry characterization of metabolic interactions between cell populations |
| Stephanie Fraley, Ph.D. | Bioengineering | Mechanisms of cell migration, developing clinical profiling technologies |
| Richard Gallo, M.D. | Dermatology | Skin biology and innate host defense |
| Jack Gilbert, Ph.D. | Pediatrics | Hospital microbial community in disease transmission and AMR gene reservoir |
| Christopher Glass, M.D., Ph.D. | Cellular and Molecular Medicine | Regulation of inflammation |
| Rob Knight, Ph.D. | Pediatrics | Computational Biology, Genomics, and Human Microbiome |
| Klaus Ley, M.D. | Bioengineering | Control of host inflammation in response to infection |
| Georgie Liu, M.D., Ph.D. | Pediatrics | Host pathogen interactions of MRSA, GBS, P. acnes |
| James Mckerrow, M.D., Ph.D. | Skaggs School of Pharmacy | Discovery and Development of new drugs for neglected tropical diseases |
| Bradley Moore, Ph.D. | Skaggs School of Pharmacy | Mechanisms in microbial antibiotic production, bioactive natural products |
| Victor Nizet, M.D. | Pediatrics | Bacterial Pathogenesis, Innate Immunity, novel approaches to combat AMR |
| Bernhard Palsson, Ph.D. | Bioengineering | Systems Biology studies of genome to phenotype |
| Joseph Pogliano, Ph.D. | Biology | Cell biological tools to study mechanisms of antibiotic targeting of essential cellular processes |
| David Pride, M.D., Ph.D. | Pathology | RNA and DNA virus contribution to pathogenesis and effect on host bacterial communities |
| Manuela Raffatellu, M.D. | Pediatrics | Immune resposne to mucosal pathogen infection |
| Tariq Rana, Ph.D. | Pediatrics | RNA, stem cell, and chemical biology to discover pathways of human vial infections |
| George Sakoulas, M.D. | Pediatrics | Drug synergies with host innate immunity |
| Robert Schooket, M.D. | Medicine | Global Infectious Disease, antiviral nanotherapies, phage therapy |
| Sujan Shresta, Ph.D. | Medicine | Immunology and Virology of mosquito-borne pathogens |
| Aleem Siddiqui, Ph.D. | Medicine | Molecular Virology, hepatitus viruses and hepatocellular carcinoma |
| Nicole Steinmetz, Ph.D. | Nanoengineering | Design, development, and testing of biologics derived from plant viruses |
| Gene Tan, Ph.D. | Medicine | Virus-host interaction analyses |
| Elizabeth Winzeler, Ph.D. | Pediatrics | Genome-wide methods identifying antimalarial drug resistance genes |
| Liangfang Zhang, Ph.D. | Nanoengineering | Biomimetic nanomedicine for drug delivery, detoxification, and vaccination |
HIV and Other Pandemics
| Name | Department | Research Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Laura Bamford, M.D. | Medicine | HIV and HCV treatment and prevention in individuals with a history of opioid use disorder and injection drug use |
| Connie Benson, M.D. | Medicine | Antiretrovirals therapeutics, TB and HIV-related coinfections and comorbidities |
| Ajay Bharti, M.D. | Medicine | Adverse effects on brain function of co-infections such as hepatitis C, toxoplasmosis, malaria, and latent TB among persons living with HIV |
| Kimberly Brouwer, Ph.D. | School of Public Health | HIV epidemiology, Social and spatial epidemiology among marginalized populations; access to care |
| Aaron Carlin, M.D., Ph.D. | Medicine | Emerging Infectious Diseases, Host-pathogen interactions, genome-wide approaches to understanding pathogenesis; developing novel diagnostics and antimicrobials |
| Sumit Chanda, Ph.D. | Sanford Burnham | HIV-Host Interactions |
| Shane Crotty, Ph.D. | La Jolla Institute of Immunology | CD4 T cell and germinal center responses to candidate HIV vaccines |
| Victor DrGruttola, ScD | Harvard Medicine | Clinical and epidemiological research on HIV infection prevention and treatment |
| Ronald Ellis, M.D., Ph.D. | Neuroscience | Neurological complications of HIV infection and substance use |
| Richard Garfein, Ph.D., M.P.H. | School of Public Health | Investigation and intervention on the infectious disease consequences of substance use |
| Sara Gianella Weibel, M.D. | Medicine | Translational virology, molecular biology and immunology, viral co-infections |
| John Guatelli, M.D. | Medicine | The molecular virology and cell biology of two accessory genes of HIV-1: vpu and nef |
| Scott Letendre, M.D. | Medicine | Pathogenesis and treatment of HIV comorbidities and neurologic infections |
| Susan Little, M.D. | Medicine | Translational research related to transmission, prevention and pathogenesis of major viral pathogens |
| David Looney, M.D. | Medicine | Gene therapy of HIV/AIDS using lentiviral vectors expressing RNAs (ribozymes, antisense RNA or siRNA) |
| Natasha Martin, Ph.D. | Medicine | Epidemic and economic modeling of HIV and related infectious disease transmission and prevention |
| Sanjay Mehta, M.D. | Medicine | Molecular epidemiology of HIV |
| David Moore, Ph.D. | Psychiatry | Co-occuring conditions among persons with HIV, including mood disorders and substance use |
| Sheldon Morris, M.D. | Medicine | PrEP, STD |
| Victor Nizet, M.D. | Pediatrics | Bacterial pathogenesis and the innate immune system, with focus on human streptococcal and staphylococcal infections and emerging antibiotic-resistant pathogens |
| Douglas Richman, M.D. | Pathology | HIV Latency |
| Timothy Rodwell, M.D. | Medicine | Infectious disease diagnostics with an eM.P.H.asis on the development and implementation of rapid molecular diagnostics for TB |
| Robert Schooley, M.D. | Medicine | Viral pathogenesis and therapy |
| Davey Smith, M.D., MAD | Medicine | Sexual transmission of HIV, acute HIV infection, drug resistance, genetic networks, virology |
| Jamila Stockman, Ph.D., M.P.H. | Medicine | HIV prevention and treatment research in the context of gender-based violence, substance abuse, mental health, and socio-structural barriers |
| Steffanie Strathdee, Ph.D. | Medicine | HIV prevention among substance using populations |
| Joel Wertheim, Ph.D. | Medicine | HIV molecular epidemiology |
Epidemiology, Behavioral Science, Global Public Health
| Name | Department | Research Interest |
|---|---|---|
| John Ayers, Ph.D. | Medicine | Online network and social media predictors of public health |
| Annick Borquez, Ph.D. | Medicine | Substance use and HIV epidemiology |
| Angela Bazzi, Ph.D. (nee Robertson) | Medicine | Improve the utilization of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention in PWID |
| Aaron Blashill, Ph.D. | SDSU Psychology | Steroid use, sexual minorities, HIV risk behaviors |
| Kimberly Brouwer, Ph.D. | Family Medicine and Public Health | HIV epidemiology, Spatial and molecular epidemiology among substance users |
| Christina Chambers, Ph.D., M.P.H. | Pediatrics | Environmental causes of birth defects |
| Heather Corliss, Ph.D., M.P.H. | SDSU Public Health | Epidemiology of substance use & mental health, sexual minorities, stigma |
| Peter Davidson, Ph.D. | Medicine | Harm reduction and HIV, overdose, research ethics, mixed methods |
| Victor DeGrutolla, Sc.D. | Family Medicine and Public Health | Clinical and epidemiological research on HIV infection prevention and treatment |
| Rebecca Feilding-Miller, Ph.D. | Medicine | Social and structural drivers of HIV, gender based violence, and COVID-19 in the United States and sub-Saharan Africa |
| Tommy Gaines, Ph.D. | Medicine | Statistical and spatial methodologies to examine patterns of infectious disease and illicit substance use |
| Richard Garfein, Ph.D. | Medicine | Investigation and Intervention on the Infectious Disease Consequences of Substance Use |
| David Grelotti, M.D. | Psychiatry | Emergence of illicit drug cocktails mixed with ARVs, treatment of HIV psychosocial syndemics |
| Keith Horvath, Ph.D. | Psychology | Health interventions to address the HIV prevention and care continuum for sexual minority men |
| Sonia Jain, Ph.D. | Family Medicine and Public Health | Biostatistics and clinical trials for HIV/infectious diseases populations |
| Susan Keine, Ph.D. | SDSU Public Health | Alcohol and HIV prevention, substance use and HIV co-infections, maternal/child health |
| Natasha Martin, Ph.D. | Medicine | Epidemic and economic modeling of HIV and related infectious disease transmission and prevention |
| Thomas Patteron, Ph.D. | Psychiatry | Behavioral interventions among substance users, RCT design and analysis, psychometrics |
| Heather Pines, Ph.D. | SDSU Medicine | HIV/STI transmission dynamics among substance users, molecular epidemiology, Social network analyses |
| Eileen Pitpitan, Ph.D. | SDSU Social Work | Structural interventions, mediator/moderator analyses |
| Elizabeth Reed, Sc.D. | SDSU Public Health | Evaluation of economic and structural interventions; HIV, gender-based violence, and substance use |
| Mark Reed, Ph.D. | SDSU Social Work | Substance use etiology, young adult |
| Yuyan Shi, Ph.D. | Public Health | Regulatory, physical, economics, and marketing environments in relation to drug abuse and related consequences |
| Jay Silverman, Ph.D. | Medicine | HIV risks related to sex trafficking and substance use, gender-based violence, adolescent HIV/STI prevention |
| Britt Skaathun, Ph.D. | Medicine | Using social, sexual, substance and molecular networks for HIV prevention and care |
| David Smith, M.D., M.A.S. | Medicine | Sexual transmission of HIV, acute HIV infection, drug resistance, genetic networks, virology |
| Laramie Smith, Ph.D. | Medicine | Access to HIV care among substance users |
| Steffanie Strathdee, Ph.D. | Medicine | Epidemiology of bloodborne pathogens, injection drug use, design and evaluation of behavioral and structural interventions |
| David Strong, Ph.D. | Public Health | Smoking, behavioral interventions, scale development |
| Jamila Stockman, Ph.D., M.P.H. | Medicine | Gender-based violence and HIV; HIV and stress |
| Kiyomi Tsuyuki, Ph.D. | Medicine | Socio-structural barriers and syndemic barriers to HIV testing, ART adherence, and HIV viral suppression |
| Lianne Urada, Ph.D. | SDSU Social Work | Homelessness during COVID-19: Exploring the usability and effects of telehealth interventions on buprenorphine treatment |
| Vaida Florin, Ph.D. | Family Medicine and Public Health | Mixed-effects models, proportional hazards mixed-effects models, model selection, and clinical trials |
| Tatyana Vasylyeva, Ph.D. | Medicine | Phylodynamics and phylogeography to investigate how social, behavioral and biological factors affect HIV epidemics |
| Daniel Werb, Ph.D. | Medicine | Initiation of drug use and HIV; drug policy evaluation |
| Adriane Wynn, Ph.D. | Medicine | Harmful alcohol use, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections in resource-limited |
| Maria Zuniga, Ph.D. | SDSU Socail Work | Behavior among HIV+ Latino/a substance users, HIV stigma, qualitative analysis |