The Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health

Andrea Conroy, PhD, is interested in acute kidney injury in hospitalized children in Africa. Her research focuses on validating equitable definitions to facilitate early recognition of acute kidney injury (AKI), investigating novel biomarkers to improve diagnosis and conducting clinical translational research to understand the etiology of AKI and the long-term impact of AKI on child health and survival. Her long-term goal is to improve AKI recognition and identify context-appropriate interventions to improve child health and survival following AKI.

The Dibyadyuti Datta, PhD lab focuses on both her research interests and experience that have been geared towards a better understanding of parasites biology at a molecular and biochemical level, with a specific focus on developing tools to fight the infection within communities. Her research also focuses on SARS-CoV-2 immunity and prevalence of asymptomatic infection in Indiana among children and adults.

The Chandy John lab research focuses on the pathogenesis, immunology, and epidemiology of malaria, including the neurodevelopmental complications of malaria, and on prevention of infections, including malaria, in children with sickle cell disease. More recently, his lab has also shifted to studying SARS-CoV-2 in children and adults in Indiana, with a focus on immunity and recovery after exposure and the prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 in the community.

Nathan Schmidt, PhD, has research that is focused on defining the factors that impact malaria pathogenesis. One of the observations made by his lab was that the composition of bacteria residing within the intestinal tract can profoundly impact the severity of malaria. The influence of gut microbiota on malaria remains a central focus of his research.

Tuan Tran, MD, PhD, studies both naturally acquired and vaccine-induced immunity to malaria using systems biology approaches. More specifically, his lab interrogates the immune system by applying multi-omic technologies to samples obtained from well-defined cohort studies of malaria-exposed children. In collaboration with Megan McHenry, MD and George Ayodo, PhD, Dr. Tran also is investigating the effects of so-called “asymptomatic” malaria infection and inflammation on the cognitive performance of school-age children in Kenya.

Leslie Enane, MD, has research that focuses on global child health with an interest in HIV and TB care for children and adolescents. Her recent work has looked at barriers and facilitators to adolescent retention in HIV care.

Alka Khaitan, MD, has research that involves pediatric HIV, T-cell immunology, and global child health. Her work contributes to the understanding of severe and lasting immune disruptions associated with HIV disease progression in children despite successful antiretroviral treatment. Dr. Khaitan co-leads the DISCOVER study, which investigates the development of immunity after SARS-CoV-2 exposure and recovery in both children and adults in Indiana.

Megan McHenry, MD, has cross-cultural research that focuses on global child health with a particular interest in neurodevelopment in children born to HIV-infected mothers and implementation science.