Amita Gupta, MD, MHS

Role: 
Faculty
Professor of Medicine and Public Health; Director, Division of Infectious Diseases
Amita Gupta, MD, MHS

Dr. Gupta is Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is also Faculty Co-chair of the Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute, and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the JH School of Medicine. She has a joint appointment in International Health at the JH Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in infectious diseases, Dr. Gupta specializes in international public health, clinical research, and education in infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and antimicrobial resistant infections. Since 2003, her work has been focused primarily on India, where she leads several Indo-JHU research collaborations. She serves in leadership positions as Co-Chair of the Faculty Steering Committee of the Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute, Center Director for the Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center for Excellence for COVID-19, the US chair for the Indo-US Vaccine Action Program sponsored RePORT India TB research consortium, which is funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the government of India, Department of Biotechnology. She also serves on the global RePORT International Executive Committee, a multilateral global consortia for TB research. She is Co-principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Baltimore-Washington-India HIV and Infectious Diseases Clinical Trials Unit (BWI-CTU), and she is an active clinical investigator in multi-country trials conducted by the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Trials Network (IMPAACT), and has served as protocol chair for high impact studies that have resulted in publications in The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. She is Co-chair of the NIH and AmFAR funded IeDea HIV/TB Working Group and Scientific Committee co-Chair for IMPAACT TB. 

She has been awarded research grants from the NIH, CDC, UNITAID, and several philanthropic foundations to investigate infectious diseases of importance to India and beyond. In 2019, Dr. Gupta was appointed by the US Health and Human Services Secretary for a 4-year term to the NIAID Council, the chief advisory committee for National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. In 2020, she was invited to the Governing Board of the Indo-U.S. Science & Technology Forum

Dr. Gupta is an author of more than 200 peer-reviewed research publications and 7 book chapters on prevention and treatment of HIV, TB, and other infectious diseases, primarily in low- and middle-income settings. She has also mentored more than 35 junior scientists in India and the US to run research studies and submit their own scientific findings to peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Gupta received an undergraduate degree from MIT, a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School, and a Master of Health Sciences in clinical investigation from JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed her internal medicine training at San Francisco General Hospital-University of California, San Francisco, followed by a post-doctoral fellowships with the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases) and at the JHU School of Medicine (Infectious Diseases).

Publications on PubMed

Research Program Building and Leadership

  • 2007-present: Chair, IMPAACT P1078, A Randomized Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety of Immediate (antepartum-initiated) Versus Deferred Reduction in TB Incidence and Mortality Among HIV-Infected Women and Their Infants in High TB Incidence Settings
  • 2008-present: Protocol Vice-Chair of ACTG 5274, Reducing Early Mortality Among Patients with Advanced HIV Disease: A Randomized Strategy Trial Comparing the Safety and Efficacy of an Individualized Patient TB Treatment Approach to a Public Health Pre-emptive TB Treatment Approach in Resource-Limited Settings (REMEMBER)
  • 2008-2012: Co-investigator ACTG 5267, A Phase I, Safety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetic Interaction Study of Single-Dose TMC207 and Efavirenz in Health Volunteers
  •  2008-2012: Co-investigator ACTG 5253 Sensitivity and Specificity of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Screening and Diagnostics in HIV-Infected Individuals
  • 2009-present: Protocol Vice Chair ACTG 5279, Phase III Clinical Trial of Short-Course Rifapentine/Isoniazid for the Prevention of Active Tuberculosis in HIV-Infected Adults with Latent Tuberculosis Infection
  • 2010: Invited by NIAID, NIH to be a part of a NIH delegation to assess scope of TB research in India. Accompanied the Deputy Director of the Division of AIDS, the Associate Director of International Health Programs, NIAID and other NIH delegates on site visits to 15 Indian institutions throughout the country
  • 2011-2012: Selected to participate in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Office in Science and Medicine (OWISM) Leadership Program for Women Faculty
  • 2012-present: Member, ACTG TB Transformative Science Group
  • 2014-present: IMPAACT TB Scientific Committee Vice-Chair
  • 2014-present: Co-investigator IMPAACT 2001 Protocol Team, PK and Safety of INH and Rifapentine in Pregnancy
  • 2014-2016: US Co-chair, NIH-India Government, Regional Prospective Observational Research in Tuberculosis (RePORT)
  • 2014-present: Co-chair PHOENIX ACTG A5300/IMPAACT 2003 feasibility study and MDR TB contact prophylaxis trial
  • 2016-present: US Chair, TB Research Consortium, RePORT India
  • 2016-present: Member, Executive Committee, RePORT International
  • 2017: Selected to participate in the Johns Hopkins Leadership Development Program (LDP)
  • 2015-present: Member, Union Interest Group in Maternal-Infant TB working group
  • 2018: Participant, Technical Consultation on Advances in Clinical Trial Design for Development of New TB Treatments, WHO Report generation
  • 2018-present: co Chair, IeDEA TB working group
  • 2019-present: NIAID Council
  • 2020-present: Governing Board Member, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSTTF)
  • 2020-present: Co-Chair, Faculty Steering Committee, Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute
  • 2020-present: Center Director, Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center for Excellence for COVID-19

 

Gender-related barriers and delays in accessing tuberculosis diagnostic and treatment services - Part 2: a systematic review of qualitative studies

Post Date: 
2014-05-11
Publication: 
Tuberculosis Research and Treatment
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant global public health problem with known gender-related (male versus female) disparities. We reviewed the qualitative evidence (written/spoken narrative) for gender-related differences limiting TB service access from symptom onset to treatment...

Barriers and delays in tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment services: does gender matter

Post Date: 
2014-04-28
Publication: 
Tuberculosis Research and Treatment
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global public health problem with known gender-related disparities. We reviewed the quantitative evidence for gender-related differences in accessing TB services from symptom onset to treatment initiation. Methods: Following a...

Change in Vitamin D levels occurs early after antiretroviral therapy initiation and depends on treatment regimen in resource-limited settings

Post Date: 
2014-04-21
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PLOS One
Background: Vitamin D has wide-ranging effects on the immune system, and studies suggest that low serum vitamin D levels are associated with worse clinical outcomes in HIV. Recent studies have identified an interaction between antiretrovirals used to treat HIV and reduced serum vitamin D...

Pregnancy differentially impacts performance of latent tuberculosis diagnostics in a high-burden setting

Post Date: 
2014-03-21
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PLOS One
Background: Targeted screening for latent TB infection (LTBI) in vulnerable populations is a recommended TB control strategy. Pregnant women are at high risk for developing TB and likely to access healthcare, making pregnancy an important screening opportunity in developing countries. The...

Biomarkers for sepsis: a review with special attention to India

Post Date: 
2014-03-19
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BioMed Research International
Sepsis is a serious infection and still a common cause of morbidity and mortality in resource-limited settings such as India. Even when microbiologic diagnostics are available, bacteremia is only identified in a proportion of patients who present with sepsis and bloodstream infections...

Maternal pneumococcal capsular IgG antibodies and transplacental transfer are lower in South Asian HIV-infected mother-infant pairs

Post Date: 
2014-03-14
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Vaccine
Background: Our understanding of the mother-to-child transfer of serotype-specific pneumococcal antibodies is limited in non-immunized, HIV-positive women. Methods: We compared geometric mean antibody concentrations (GMCs), geometric mean transplacental...

Modifiable risk factors associated with tuberculosis disease in children in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2014-02-15
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International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Setting: India accounts for the largest burden of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide, with 26% of the world's cases. Objective: To assess the association between novel modifiable risk factors and TB in Indian children. Design: Cases were children aged...

Pediatric tuberculosis in young children in India: a prospective study

Post Date: 
2013-11-11
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BioMed Research International
Background: India has one of the highest tuberculosis (TB) burdens globally. However, few studies have focused on TB in young children, a vulnerable population, where lack of early diagnosis results in poor outcomes. Methods: Young children (≤ 5 years) with...

HIV/AIDS education in traditional Indian systems of medicine: faculty perspectives

Post Date: 
2013-10-24
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Journal of Traditional Medicine and and Clinical Naturopathy
In India, HIV-infected individuals face numerous challenges in their search for treatments. Currently, western allopathic medicine (hereinafter ‘biomedicine’) offers antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS and associated co-morbidities that have prolonged survival and improved quality of...

India’s new policy to protect research participants

Post Date: 
2013-07-31
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The BMJ
Editorial Introduction: India, the country with the largest disease burden in the world,1 is now a major international hub for clinical research. However, a recent policy that was meant to mitigate important ethical concerns may have profound and unintended consequences for public health and...

Patterns of TB drug-resistance in a tertiary care facility in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2013-07-18
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Clinical Microbiology
Introduction:Globally, the emergence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) (defined as resistance to isoniazid (INH) and rifampicin (RIF) and extensively drug resistant (XDR-TB) (defined as resistance to INH, RIF, any fluoroquinolone and to at least one of the three injectable second...

Screening for pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV-infected individuals: AIDS Clinical Trials Group Protocol A5253

Post Date: 
2013-04-15
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International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Background: Improved tuberculosis (TB) screening is urgently needed for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients. Methods: An observational, multi-country, cross-sectional study of HIV-infected patients to compare a standardized diagnostic...

Low tuberculosis knowledge among HIV-infected patients in a high HIV prevalence region within Southeast India

Post Date: 
2013-03-21
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Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
Setting: A private multispecialty hospital in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, India. Methods: A survey of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions adapted from a pretested questionnaire was administered to 128 HIV-infected adults, from July to August 2008.

Tuberculosis in pregnant and postpartum women: Epidemiology, management, and research gaps

Post Date: 
2012-12-15
Publication: 
Clinical Infectious Diseases
Tuberculosis is most common during a woman's reproductive years and is a major cause of maternal-child mortality. National guidelines for screening and management vary widely owing to insufficient data. In this article, we review the available data on (1) the global burden of tuberculosis in...

Growth patterns among HIV-exposed infants receiving nevirapine prophylaxis in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2012-10-31
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BMC Infectious Diseases
Background: India has among the highest rates of infant malnutrition. Few studies investigating the growth patterns of HIV-exposed infants in India or the impact of timing of HIV infection on growth in settings such as India exist. Methods: We used data from...

Vitamin D deficiency is common among HIV-infected breastfeeding mothers in Pune, India, but not associated with mother-to-child HIV transmission

Post Date: 
2012-10-01
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HIV Clinical Trials
A recent report from Tanzania demonstrated an increased risk of being HIV infected or of dying at birth among children born to breastfeeding mothers with low baseline vitamin D levels. We conducted a nested case-control study among HIV-infected pregnant women in western India to confirm the...

Detection of microbial translocation in HIV and SIV infection using the limulus amebocyte lysate assay is masked by serum and plasma

Post Date: 
2012-08-01
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Publication: 
PLOS One
Objective: Microbial translocation (MT) is thought to be a major contributor to the pathogenesis of HIV-related immune activation, and circulating lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria is the principle measurement of this process. However, related research has been impeded by...

Authors’ response to Hanrahan et al CID article

Post Date: 
2012-05-15
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Clinical Infectious Diseases
Reply to letter

Safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic interactions between single-dose TMC207 and steady-state efavirenz in healthy volunteers: AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Study.

Post Date: 
2012-04-15
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Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
Background: Drug-drug interactions complicate management of coinfection with HIV-1 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Bedaquiline (formerly TMC207), an investigational agent for the treatment of tuberculosis, is metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A which may be induced by the antiretroviral...

Predictors of mortality in hospitalized children with pandemic H1N1 influenza 2009 in Pune, India

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2012-04-15
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Indian Journal of Pediatrics
Objective: To analyse the factors associated with increased mortality among Indian Children with H1N1. Methods: Data were abstracted from available hospital records of children less than 12 y of age, who were admitted to Sassoon General Hospital in Pune, India, with...

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