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

 

A5288: MULTIOCTAVE, Management Using the Latest Technologies in Resource-limited Settings to Optimize Combination Therapy After Viral Failure

Post Date: 
2012-07-16
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This study was terminated in March 2020. It was a mult-country clinical trial conducted in Brazil, Haiti, India, Kenya, Malawi, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, and Zambia under the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. ...

RePORT India

Post Date: 
2012-06-30
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RePORT India is a joint venture between the Indian and US governments. The Indo-US Vaccine Action Program, a collaboration between the Indian Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the US NIH, is co-funding six teams of India- and US-based...

C-TRIUMPH Pilot Study: Burden and Risk Factors for Drug-resistant Tuberculosis in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2012-05-29
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This pilot study ended in April 2015. Drug resistant TB (MDR-TB and XDR-TB) is increasing worldwide. Although 20% of all global TB cases occur in India, current estimates of the burden of MDR-TB in India are limited. A well-characterized TB clinical cohort, household cohort and control cohort would...

Tuberculosis (TB) Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention Course

Post Date: 
2012-01-01
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To strengthen tuberculosis (TB) clinical care and research in India and Pakistan, CCGHE collaborated with BJGMC, the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) and Indus Hospital to develop and deploy the Tuberculosis (TB) Diagnosis, Treatment ,and Prevention course. Originally developed as a...

Understanding Challenges and Perspectives of Parents about HIV Disclosures to their Children and Develop a Structured HIV Disclosure Model for Pediatric Age Group

Post Date: 
2011-12-08
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This study is terminated. In 2008 an estimated 70,000 children in India were living with HIV, with 21,000 new children are infected each year through mother to child transmission (Singh et al 2008). Increasing availability of antiretroviral treatment (ART) to HIV infected children in India means...

Sexually Transmitted Infections among Women in the Reproductive Age Group in Shevgaon, Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, India

Post Date: 
2011-05-15
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This study was conducted in 2011. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) constitute a significant epidemiological burden all over the world especially in middle and low income countries. Women are more vulnerable to STIs due to several biological and socio-economic reasons. Although transmission of...

A5273: Multicenter Study of Options for Second-Line Effective Combination Therapy (SELECT)

Post Date: 
2011-05-12
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This study was terminated May 2, 2017; it was conducted under the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. This was a multinational clinical trial conducted in Brazil, India, Kenya, Malawi, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand...

Predictors of Perinatal HBV Transmission in an HIV/HBV Infected Cohort

Post Date: 
2011-04-22
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This study ended in 2014. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) coinfection is common; affecting greater than 10% of HIV-infected individuals in resource-limited settings(1-3). Although the impact of HIV disease on HBV coinfection has been studied in non-pregnant adults, little is known...

A5282: A Randomized, Phase II Trial to Compare an HPV Test-and-Treat Strategy to a Cytology-Based Strategy for Prevention of CIN 2+ in HIV-Infected Women

Post Date: 
2011-03-15
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Indo-JHU partnership work on this trial was officially terminated September 10, 2018; it was conducted under the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. This multi-country trial is being conducted in Botswana, Haiti, India,...

The Role of Vitamin D in the Development of Active Tuberculosis Disease in Young Children

Post Date: 
2010-12-09
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This study was terminated September 2014. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) results in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide, yet remains difficult to diagnose and manage, particularly in resource constrained settings. Deficiency in vitamin D, a recently recognized...

Retrospective Characterization of Clinical and Demographic Data of Pediatric Tuberculosis Patients Treated at BJ Medical College in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2010-06-10
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This study ended June 14, 2013.

Hospitalized Pediatric Patients with Pandemic 2009 H1N1 Influenza in India (August-November 2009)

Post Date: 
2010-04-10
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This study ended in April 2013. This was a review and collection of data from the medical records of pediatric patients who were admitted to the BJMC/Sassoon General Hospitals with H1N1 influenza during August-November 2009.

P1077BF: Breastfeeding Version of the PROMISE Study (Promoting Maternal and Infant Survival Everywhere)

Post Date: 
2010-02-02
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This trial was terminated November 6, 2019. This multi-country trial is being conducted in India, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, conducted under the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network and funded...

P1077FF: Formula Feeding Version of the PROMISE Study (Promoting Maternal and Infant Survival Everywhere)

Post Date: 
2010-02-02
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This trial was terminated November 6, 2019. This multi-country trial is being conducted in India, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, under the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network and funded by the U.S...

Assessment of Active Tuberculosis amongst Asymptomatic HIV-infected Patients in Kakinada, India

Post Date: 
2009-07-23
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This study was conducted in 2008. Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health threat in India and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality amongst people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.1 According to the WHO, India accounts for one-fifth of the global TB incident cases...

A5225: Phase I/II Dose-Finding Study of High-Dose Fluconazole Treatment in AIDS-Associated Cryptococcal Meningitis

Post Date: 
2009-04-22
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This trial was terminated in March 2015; it was conducted under the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. This multi-country study was conducted in India, Kenyam Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, United States, and...

Impact of Malnutrition on HIV Treatment Failure in Resource-limited Settings

Post Date: 
2009-04-02
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This study, NWCS 319, was terminated August 20, 2019. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has reduced morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected persons worldwide. However, early treatment failure (i.e. WHO stage 3 or 4 illnesses or death...

A5253: Sensitivity and Specificity of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Screening and Diagnostics in HIV-Infected Individuals

Post Date: 
2009-03-19
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This study was terminated October 15, 2014. An estimated 3 million HIV-infected individuals will enter programs for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in the coming year, with projected rates of requirement for ARV therapy extending to more than 10 million in sub-Saharan Africa...

The Presentation and Disease Progression of HIV Infection Among Indian Children

Post Date: 
2008-09-22
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This study was terminated July 24, 2010.

Pages

Lipid mediators of inflammation and resolution in individuals with tuberculosis and tuberculosis-diabetes

Post Date: 
2019-11-11
Publication: 
Prostaglandins and Other Lipid Mediators
Individuals with concurrent tuberculosis (TB) and Type 2 diabetes (DM) have a higher risk of adverse outcomes. To better understand potential immunological differences, we utilized a comprehensive panel to characterize pro-inflammatory and pro-resolving (i.e., mediators involved in the resolution...

MAL adaptor (TIRAP) S180L polymorphism and severity of disease among tuberculosis patients

Post Date: 
2019-10-31
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Infection, Genetics, and Evolution
Infection, Genetics, and Evolution : We investigated the association of TIRAP variants with severity of TB disease and IP-10 production in humans, which may be useful in predicting poor clinical outcome

Incidence of tuberculosis in HIV-infected adults on first- and second-line antiretroviral therapy in India

Post Date: 
2019-10-29
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BMC Infectious Diseases
In this study among people living with HIV, Akshay Gupte and colleagues found that the risk of acquiring tuberculosis was higher in those receiving first-line antiretrovial therapy versus those receiving second-line medications.

Isoniazid preventive therapy in HIV-infected pregnant and postpartum women

Post Date: 
2019-10-03
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New England Journal of Medicine
New England Journal of Medicine: Dr. Amita Gupta and colleagues found that the current standard of care given to HIV+ pregnant women to prevent TB should wait until 12 weeks after delivery. The study underscores the need to include pregnant women in clinical trials.

Delays and barriers to early treatment initiation for childhood tuberculosis in India

Post Date: 
2019-10-01
Publication: 
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
BACKGROUND: India accounts for 27% of global childhood tuberculosis (TB) burden. Understanding barriers to early diagnosis and treatment in children may improve care and outcomes. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed among 89 children initiated on anti-TB treatment from a public hospital...

Challenges in conducting trials for pediatric tuberculosis meningitis: lessons learned in the field

Post Date: 
2019-10-01
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International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease: Researchers describe the challenges associated with conducting the first randomized clinical trial of antimicrobial agents in pediatric tuberculosis meningitis.

Re: A Shorter Regimen for Rifampin-Resistant Tuberculosis

Post Date: 
2019-09-12
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New England Journal of Medicine
Dr. Jeff Tornheim and colleagues respond to an NEJM article about shorter course TB treatment.

Use of smartphone-based video Directly Observed Therapy (vDOT) in tuberculosis care: Single-arm, prospective feasibility study

Post Date: 
2019-08-30
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Journal of Medical Internet Research
Video-based monitoring is increasingly used as an efficient and low cost alternative to in-person observation and monitoring of TB patients. It showed promise in the high TB setting of India, too.

Inclusion of key populations in clinical trials of new antituberculosis treatments: Current barriers and recommendations for pregnant and lactating women, children, and HIV-infected persons

Post Date: 
2019-08-15
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PLOS Medicine
PLOS Medicine: Dr. Amita Gupta and colleagues discuss the scientific and ethical basis for including pregnant and lactation women, children, and HIV+ patients in tuberculosis therapeutic clinical trials.

Smoking, alcohol use disorder and tuberculosis treatment outcomes: A dual co-morbidity burden that cannot be ignored

Post Date: 
2019-07-31
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PLoS One
BACKGROUND: More than 20% of tuberculosis (TB) disease worldwide may be attributable to smoking and alcohol abuse. India is the second largest consumer of tobacco products, a major consumer of alcohol particularly among males, and has the highest burden of TB globally. The impact of...

Infection free "resisters" among household contacts of adult pulmonary tuberculosis

Post Date: 
2019-07-18
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PLoS One
Despite substantial exposure to infectious pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) cases, some household contacts (HHC) never acquire latent TB infection (LTBI). Characterizing these "resisters" can inform who to study immunologically for the development of TB vaccines. We enrolled HHCs of culture-confirmed...

High risk for latent tuberculosis infection among medical residents and nursing students in India

Post Date: 
2019-07-08
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PLoS One
PLoS ONE: Self-reported TB exposure is underreported, and uptake of LTBI prevention therapy remains low

Mobile phone access and comfort: implications for HIV and tuberculosis care in India and South Africa.

Post Date: 
2019-07-01
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Publication: 
International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
SETTING: India and South Africa shoulder the greatest burden of tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection respectively, but care retention is suboptimal. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a study in Pune, India, and Matlosana, South Africa ...

Age-specific prevalence of TB infection among household contacts of pulmonary tuberculosis: Is it time for TB preventive therapy?

Post Date: 
2019-06-21
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Publication: 
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
BACKGROUND: Household contacts (HHCs) of TB patients are at high risk of developing evidence of latent TB infection (LTBI) and active disease from the index patient. We estimated the age-specific prevalence of LTBI and the force of infection (FI), as a measure of recent transmission, among HHCs of...

Assessment of lung function in successfully treated tuberculosis reveals high burden of ventilatory defects and COPD

Post Date: 
2019-05-23
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PLoS One
New in PLoS One: We found a high burden of lung function defects and COPD in tuberculosis cases who successfully completed treatment, suggesting a need for lung function screening as part of patient management.

High prevalence of insulin resistance and occurrence prior to hyperinsulinemia threshold among people living with HIV in Pune, India

Post Date: 
2019-05-21
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Publication: 
Diabetes Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews
BACKGROUND Diabetes prevalence in HIV is not well characterized for India, despite the high burden of both individual diseases. Epidemiology of insulin resistance (IR): a precursor to diabetes, and its associated risk factors are also poorly understood in Asian Indian people living with HIV (PLHIV...

Subtherapeutic rifampicin concentration is associated with unfavourable tuberculosis treatment outcomes

Post Date: 
2019-05-10
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Clinical Infectious Diseases
Rifampicin concentrations were sub-therapeutic in most Indian patients taking a thrice-weekly TB regimen

Respiratory health status is associated with treatment outcomes in pulmonary tuberculosis

Post Date: 
2019-04-19
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Publication: 
The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
BACKGROUND: The association between respiratory impairment and tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes is not clear. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated respiratory health status, measured using the Saint George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), in a cohort of new adult pulmonary TB cases during and...

Feasibility of identifying household contacts of rifampin- and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis cases at high risk of progression to tuberculosis disease

Post Date: 
2019-03-28
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Publication: 
Clinical Infectious Diseases
We assessed multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases and their household contacts (HHCs) to inform the development of an interventional clinical trial.

Willingness to take multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) preventive therapy among adult and adolescent household contacts of MDR-TB index cases: an international multi-site cross-sectional study

Post Date: 
2019-03-28
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Publication: 
Clinical Infectious Diseases
Abstract BACKGROUND: Household contacts (HHCs) of individuals with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are at high risk of infection and subsequent disease. There is limited evidence on the willingness of MDR-TB HHCs to take MDR-TB preventive therapy (TPT) to decrease their risk of TB disease...

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