International Programs

The Division of Infectious Diseases collaborates closely with the Weill Cornell Center for Global Health (CGH), with nine faculty members shared between the two groups, including full-time faculty who live on-site or travel frequently to programs in Brazil, Haiti, India, and Tanzania.

Brazil

Carvalho, Dupnik, Glesby, Johnson

The collaboration between Cornell University and the Federal University of Bahia started in 1964 and is the longest collaboration of its type in the world. To date, over 20 Cornell faculty members and approximately 120 students and fellows have participated in the program, and over 250 peer reviewed journal publications have emerged from the research. The program has been funded by the Commonwealth Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation, and since 1979, by the NIH. A second program collaborates with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) in Natal. Active areas of research include the pathogenesis, diagnosis, complications, and management of HTLV-1, leprosy, and leishmaniasis.

Tanajura D, Castro N, Oliveira P, Neto A, Muniz A, Carvalho NB, Orge G, Santos S, Glesby MJ, Carvalho EM. Neurological Manifestations in Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1)-Infected Individuals Without HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis: A Longitudinal Cohort Study. Clin Infect Dis. 2015 Jul 1;61(1):49-56.

Nobre ML, Dupnik KM, Nobre PJ, Freitas De Souza MC, Dűppre NC, Sarno EN, Jerŏnimo SM. Human migration, railways and the geographic distribution of leprosy in Rio Grande do Norte State--Brazil. Lepr Rev. 2015 Dec;86(4):335-44.

Muniz AC, Bacellar O, Lago EL, Carvalho AM, Carneiro PP, Guimarães LH, Rocha PN, Carvalho LP, Glesby M, Carvalho EM. Immunologic Markers of Protection in Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis Infection: A 5-Year Cohort Study. J Infect Dis. 2016 Aug 15;214(4):570-6.

Amorim FM, Nobre ML, Nascimento LS, Miranda AM, Monteiro GRG, Freire-Neto FP, Queiroz MDCP, Queiroz JW, Duthie MS, Costa MR, Reed SG, Johnson WD Jr, Dupnik KM, Jeronimo SMB. Differential immunoglobulin and complement levels in leprosy prior to development of reversal reaction and erythema nodosum leprosum. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019 Jan 28;13(1):e0007089.

Machado PR, Machado LM, Shibuya M, Rego J, Johnson WD, Glesby MJ. Viral Co-infection and Leprosy Outcomes: A Cohort Study. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015 Aug 12;9(8):e0003865.

Haiti

Fitzgerald, Dupnik, Johnson, Mathad, Ocheretina, Pape, Schackman

The Cornell program in Haiti began in 1980 with the establishment of a unit for the study and treatment of infantile diarrhea at the State University Hospital in Port-au-Prince. The Cornell team began its AIDS research in 1982 and was instrumental in the formation of Groupe Haitien d’Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes (GHESKIO). Since 1983, Cornell and GHESKIO have had uninterrupted NIH support resulting in over 130 publications. Cornell-GHESKIO conducts NIH-sponsored HIV and tuberculosis clinical trials. With support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), GHESKIO provides services to approximately 500,000 persons annually. Current areas of research are HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera, and non-communicable disease.

Dupnik KM, Bean JM, Lee MH, Jean Juste MA, Skrabanek L, Rivera V, Vorkas CK, Pape JW, Fitzgerald DW, Glickman M. Blood transcriptomic markers of Mycobacterium tuberculosis load in sputum. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2018 Aug 1;22(8):950-958.

Batavia AS, Severe P, Lee MH, Apollon A, Zhu YS, Dupnik KM, McNairy ML, Pape JW, Fitzgerald DW, Peck RN. Blood pressure and mortality in a prospective cohort of HIV-infected adults in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. J Hypertens. 2018 Jul;36(7):1533-1539.

Ocheretina O, Shen L, Escuyer VE, Mabou MM, Royal-Mardi G, Collins SE, Pape JW, Fitzgerald DW. Whole Genome Sequencing Investigation of a Tuberculosis Outbreak in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Caused by a Strain with a "Low-Level" rpoB Mutation L511P - Insights into a Mechanism of Resistance Escalation. PLoS One. 2015 Jun 3;10(6):e0129207.

Masur J, Koenig SP, Julma P, Ocheretina O, Durán-Mendicuti MA, Fitzgerald DW, Pape JW. Active Tuberculosis Case Finding in Haiti. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2017 Aug;97(2):433-435.

Pierre S, Jannat-Khah D, Fitzgerald DW, Pape J, McNairy ML. 10-Year Survival of Patients with AIDS Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy in Haiti. N Engl J Med. 2016 Jan 28;374(4):397-8.

Isa F, Collins S, Lee MH, Decome D, Dorvil N, Joseph P, Smith L, Salerno S, Wells MT, Fischer S, Bean JM, Pape JW, Johnson WD, Fitzgerald DW, Rhee KY. Mass Spectrometric Identification of Urinary Biomarkers of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. EBioMedicine. 2018 May;31:157-165.

Tanzania

Downs, Fitzgerald, Johnson, Peck

In 2006, a formal affiliation was established between WCMC and the Weill Bugando School of Medicine (WBSM) / Bugando Medical Center (BMC) in Mwanza, Tanzania. BMC is a 900-bed tertiary care center serving a population of approximately 15 million Tanzanians. WBSM admits approximately 250 medical students per class, per year. The goal of the Weill Cornell collaboration is to aid in the development of the WBSM/BMC infrastructure and training programs by the exchange of faculty, fellows, residents and students. Long-term goals are to create a platform for self-sustaining research programs and clinical knowledge transfer. WCMC rotates approximately 40 senior teaching residents and fellows in medicine, pediatrics, surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology to Tanzania and brings 10 Tanzanian physicians to New York for clinical and research training. Active areas of research are HIV/AIDS, schistosomiasis, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, and non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension.

Colombe S, Lee MH, Masikini PJ, van Lieshout L, de Dood CJ, Hoekstra PT, Corstjens PLAM, Mngara J, van Dam GJ, Downs JA. Decreased Sensitivity of Schistosoma sp. Egg Microscopy in Women and HIV-Infected Individuals. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018 Apr;98(4):1159-1164. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0790.

Downs JA, Dupnik KM, van Dam GJ, Urassa M, Lutonja P, Kornelis D, de Dood CJ, Hoekstra P, Kanjala C, Isingo R, Peck RN, Lee MH, Corstjens PLAM, Todd J, Changalucha JM, Johnson WD Jr, Fitzgerald DW. Effects of schistosomiasis on susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and HIV-1 viral load at HIV-1 seroconversion: A nested case-control study. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Sep 25;11(9):e0005968.

Downs JA, Mwakisole AH, Chandika AB, Lugoba S, Kassim R, Laizer E, Magambo KA, Lee MH, Kalluvya SE, Downs DJ, Fitzgerald DW. Educating religious leaders to promote uptake of male circumcision in Tanzania: a cluster randomised trial. Lancet. 2017 Mar 18;389(10074):1124-1132.