Global Health and Tuberculosis
The faculty in the Section of Infectious Diseases have longstanding international research studies related to epidemiology of infectious diseases, with a primary focus on tuberculosis. Our researchers have active fields sites in Africa and Asia researching a range of diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases.
Dr. Jacobson is the Medical Director of the Boston Medical Center Tuberculosis Clinic and has established a highly productive collaboration with researchers in Cape Town, South Africa. Her work has particular emphasis in understanding how substance use impacts on tuberculosis transmission and response to therapy.
For more information on her research program click here.
Dr. Bouton’s research focuses on the impact of HIV infection on evolution and transmission of drug resistant tuberculosis and improving outcomes in both diseases.
For more information on her research program click here.
His scientific work uses phylogenomics, population genetics, and mathematical modeling to understand how microbial evolution, human host mobility, and other factors shape the transmission and geographic dispersal of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
Dr. Hamer currently has active projects in Bangladesh, Zambia, and the United States. Major current projects include neonatal sepsis prevention using prebiotics and probiotics in Bangladesh; nutritional status of adolescents in Zambia; and a prospective cohort study that includes a biobank of US immigrants with Chagas disease. In addition, Dr. Hamer is the Surveillance Lead for the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network, a global network of 70 sites in 31 countries that conducts surveillance of emerging infectious diseases using returning travelers, immigrants, and refugees as sentinels of infection.
Dr. Sinha has been involved in TB research since 2014 and his primary interest is in the relationship between undernutrition and TB. Through epidemiological studies & health economic modeling, he hopes find ways to use nutritional policy to end TB. Dr. Sinha has field experience in India and South Africa.
Dr. Bourque is involved in clinical investigation on Chagas disease, which is a chronic parasitic infection endemic to many parts of Latin America and disproportionately affects migrant patients from endemic regions. His work seems to address key gaps in research and knowledge on this neglected tropical disease.
Dr. Sagar’s laboratory is primarily interested in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) mucosal HIV-1 transmission and antibodies.