Jeff Tornheim, MD, MPH

Role: 
Faculty
Associate Professor
Dr. Jeffrey Tornheim
Jeff Tornheim, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases here at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research explores the application of new diagnostic technologies to improved health outcomes in the treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis among both adult and pediatric patients in India. 

Dr. Tornheim recently completed his infectious diseases fellowship at Johns Hopkins, during which he worked with Drs. Amita Gupta, Vidya Mave, Bob Bollinger of Johns Hopkins, and with Dr. Zarir Udwadia at the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai. His interest in clinical outcomes for underserved populations led him to practice in physician training environments in Bolivia, Peru, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, and the United States.

Dr. Tornheim completed a clinical fellowship in infectious diseases in June 2017. Prior to that he completed residencies at Yale University in both internal medicine and pediatrics. He received an MD/MPH from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, with his thesis evaluating the impact of water policy on rates of pediatric diarrhea in Bolivia. After completing undergraduate studies in International Development and Economics at Brandeis University he moved to East Africa where he engaged in health system strengthening for returning refugees to South Sudan and worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the epidemiology of pneumonia and diarrhea in Western Kenya. At the same time he worked at the Bureau of TB Control for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and was actively engaged in the operations of an East Harlem free clinic. As a Fogarty International Clinical Scholar, he spent 2 years in rural Bolivia establishing and managing operations for a Chagas Disease treatment program.

 

Few eligible for the newly recommended short course MDR-TB regimen at a large Mumbai private clinic

Post Date: 
2019-01-28
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BMC Infectious Diseases
BACKGROUND: India has the world's highest tuberculosis burden, and Mumbai is particularly affected by multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). WHO recommends short, intensive treatment ("Short Course") for previously untreated pulmonary MDR-TB patients but does not require universal...

Atypical mycobacterial infections following plastic surgery procedures abroad: a multidisciplinary algorithm for diagnosis and treatment

Post Date: 
2018-12-28
Abstract: Medical tourism has become increasingly popular in recent years. The most commonly sought procedures are cosmetic. The recent rise in medical tourism has been mirrored by an increase in the incidence of M. abscessus infections, atypical mycobacteria ubiquitous in aquatic environments...

Multiplex-PCR to detect pAmpC β-lactamases among Enterobacteriaceae at a tertiary care laboratory in Mumbai, India

Post Date: 
2018-12-13
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Microbiology
Drug-resistance due to AmpC β-lactamases represents a growing problem worldwide. In this study, a previously collected sample of 108 cefoxitin-resistant clinical isolates was assessed for AmpC β-lactamase production through routine phenotypic testing and double-disc cefoxitin/cloxcallin (DD-CC),...

The global landscape of tuberculosis therapeutics

Post Date: 
2018-11-07
Publication: 
Annual Review of Medicine
Abstract Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the oldest infections afflicting humans yet remains the number one infectious disease killer worldwide. Despite decades of experience treating this disease, TB regimens require months of multidrug therapy, even for latent infections...

Challenges of TB and co-treatment: updates and insights

Post Date: 
2018-08-04
Publication: 
Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In the past few years, tuberculosis (TB) has overtaken HIV as the infectious disease with the highest global mortality. Successful management of this syndemic will require improved diagnostic tests, shorter preventive therapies, and more effective treatments,...

Pyrosequencing to resolve discrepant Xpert MTB/RIF and Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube 960

Post Date: 
2018-03-26
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Lung India
Lung India: Indo-JHU researchers find that pyrosequencing can clear up discrepancies about drug resistance in TB.

Of testing and treatment: Implications of implementing new regimens for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Post Date: 
2017-10-01
Publication: 
Clinical Infectious Diseases
A novel, shorter-course regimen for treating multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis was recently recommended by the World Health Organization. However, the most appropriate use of drug susceptibility testing (DST) to support this regimen is less clear. Implementing countries must therefore...

Drug-resistant tuberculosis in 2017: at a crossroads

Post Date: 
2017-03-15
Publication: 
Lancet Respiratory Medicine
In The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Dheda and colleagues present one of the most comprehensive pictures to date of the global epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis. This comes at a time of increasing awareness of antimicrobial resistance as a global threat, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis...

Tuberculosis associated with HIV infection

Post Date: 
2017-01-15
Publication: 
Microbiology Spectrum
Abstract Tuberculosis (TB) has recently surpassed HIV as the primary infectious disease killer worldwide, but the two diseases continue to display lethal synergy. The burden of TB is disproportionately borne by people living with HIV, particularly where HIV and poverty...

Bedaquiline

Post Date: 
2017-01-01
Publication: 
Kucers’ the Use of Antibiotics: A Clinical Review of Antibacterial, Antifungal, and Antiviral Drugs, 7th Edition
Section II, Antibiotics: Part 12 Anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Next-generation sequencing in neuropathologic diagnosis of infections of the nervous system

Post Date: 
2016-06-13
Publication: 
Neurology, Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation
OBJECTIVE: To determine the feasibility of next-generation sequencing (NGS) microbiome approaches in the diagnosis of infectious disorders in brain or spinal cord biopsies in patients with suspected CNS infections. METHODS: In a...

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