Kaku So-Armah PhD
Assistant Professor, General Internal Medicine
801 Massachusetts Ave | (617) 414-4376kaku@bu.edu
Sections
General Internal Medicine
Centers
Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit
Biography
Kaku So-Armah is an Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Medicine. His training is in epidemiology and his doctoral research focused on the role of co-morbid diseases and immunologic alterations in HIV-related cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. His current work seeks to understand mechanisms of cardiometabolic disease in HIV infection. Mechanisms of interest include liver injury, immune dysfunction, substance use, and intestinal dysbiosis.
His work uses data from the Russian cohort of the Uganda Russia Boston Alcohol Network Alcohol Research Collaboration on HIV/AIDS (URBAN ARCH) as well as the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS).
His long-term goal is to translate the growing understanding of the mechanisms of excess HIV-related comorbid disease risk into effective, sustainable interventions for HIV populations bearing the brunt of the HIV epidemic.
Education
Epidemiology, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 2013
Chemistry, BA, Amherst College, 2008
Publications
Freiberg MS, Duncan MS, Alcorn C, Chang CH, Kundu S, Mumpuni A, Smith EK, Loch S, Bedigian A, Vittinghoff E, So-Armah K, Hsue PY, Justice AC, Tseng ZH. HIV Infection and the Risk of World Health Organization-Defined Sudden Cardiac Death. J Am Heart Assoc. 2021 Sep 21; 10(18):e021268. PMID: 34493058.
Published on 6/25/2021Sico JJ, Kundu S, So-Armah K, Gupta SK, Chang CH, Butt AA, Gibert CL, Marconi VC, Crystal S, Tindle HA, Freiberg MS, Stewart JC. Depression as a Risk Factor for Incident Ischemic Stroke Among HIV-Positive Veterans in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study. J Am Heart Assoc. 2021 07 06; 10(13):e017637. PMID: 34169726.
Published on 6/16/2021Duncan MS, Alcorn CW, Freiberg MS, So-Armah K, Patterson OV, DuVall SL, Crothers KA, Re VL, Butt AA, Lim JK, Kim JW, Tindle HA, Justice AC, Brittain EL. Association between HIV and incident pulmonary hypertension in US Veterans: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2021 Jul; 2(7):e417-e425. PMID: 34296203.
Published on 6/8/2021Chichetto NE, Kundu S, Freiberg MS, Koethe JR, Butt AA, Crystal S, So-Armah KA, Cook RL, Braithwaite RS, Justice AC, Fiellin DA, Khan M, Bryant KJ, Gaither JR, Barve SS, Crothers K, Bedimo RJ, Warner A, Tindle HA. Association of Syndemic Unhealthy Alcohol Use, Smoking, and Depressive Symptoms on Incident Cardiovascular Disease among Veterans With and Without HIV-Infection. AIDS Behav. 2021 Sep; 25(9):2852-2862. PMID: 34101074.
Published on 5/24/2021Pierre F, Forman LS, Winter M, Cheng D, Ngabirano C, Emenyonu N, Hunt PW, Huang Y, Muyindike W, Samet J, Hahn JA, So-Armah K. Alcohol Consumption and Tryptophan Metabolism Among People with HIV Prior to Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation: The Uganda ARCH Cohort Study. Alcohol Alcohol. 2021 May 24. PMID: 34027552.
Published on 5/7/2021Hahn JA, Murnane PM, Vittinghoff E, Muyindike WR, Emenyonu NI, Fatch R, Chamie G, Haberer JE, Francis JM, Kapiga S, Jacobson K, Myers B, Couture MC, DiClemente RJ, Brown JL, So-Armah K, Sulkowski M, Marcus GM, Woolf-King S, Cook RL, Richards VL, Molina P, Ferguson T, Welsh D, Piano MR, Phillips SA, Stewart S, Afshar M, Page K, McGinnis K, Fiellin DA, Justice AC, Bryant K, Saitz R. Factors associated with phosphatidylethanol (PEth) sensitivity for detecting unhealthy alcohol use: An individual patient data meta-analysis. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2021 06; 45(6):1166-1187. PMID: 33837975.
Published on 3/17/2021Corcorran MA, Ludwig-Baron N, Cheng DM, Lioznov D, Gnatienko N, Patts G, So-Armah K, Blokhina E, Bendiks S, Krupitsky E, Samet JH, Tsui JI. The Hepatitis C Continuum of Care Among HIV-Positive Persons with Heavy Alcohol Use in St. Petersburg, Russia. AIDS Behav. 2021 Aug; 25(8):2533-2541. PMID: 33730255.
Published on 2/9/2021Polanka BM, Kundu S, So-Armah KA, Freiberg MS, Gupta SK, Zapolski TCB, Hirsh AT, Bedimo RJ, Budoff MJ, Butt AA, Chang CH, Gottlieb SS, Marconi VC, Womack JA, Stewart JC. Insomnia symptoms and biomarkers of monocyte activation, systemic inflammation, and coagulation in HIV: Veterans Aging Cohort Study. PLoS One. 2021; 16(2):e0246073. PMID: 33561176.
Published on 1/1/2021Fuster D, So-Armah K, Cheng DM, Coleman SM, Gnatienko N, Lioznov D, Krupitsky EM, Freiberg MS, Samet JH. Lack of Association Between Recent Cannabis Use and Advanced Liver Fibrosis Among HIV-positive Heavy Drinkers. Curr HIV Res. 2021; 19(4):324-331. PMID: 34061004.
Published on 11/23/2020Zifodya JS, Duncan MS, So-Armah KA, Attia EF, Akgün KM, Rodriguez-Barradas MC, Marconi VC, Budoff MJ, Bedimo RJ, Alcorn CW, Soo Hoo GW, Butt AA, Kim JW, Sico JJ, Tindle HA, Huang L, Tate JP, Justice AC, Freiberg MS, Crothers K. Community-Acquired Pneumonia and Risk of Cardiovascular Events in People Living With HIV. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020 12; 9(23):e017645. PMID: 33222591.
Media Mentions
Published on 6/7/2020
4 Questions on HIV and Cardiovascular Disease
Published on 5/25/2020
4 Questions on HIV and Cardiovascular Disease
Published on 4/4/2019
Depression Plus HIV Can Turn Deadly
View full list of 3 media mentions.