Nishi Suryavanshi, PhD

Pune, India

Role:

Staff

Clinical Research Site Coordinator, Deputy Director, BJGMC Clinical Research Site; Research Associate, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Dr. Suryavanshi is Clinical Research Site Coordinator and Deputy Director for the BJGMC-JHU CRS in Pune, India. She has 18 years of experience working in the ACTG and IMPAACT networks as a protocol team member, site co-investigator and lead behavioral science studies in TB, HIV, mental helath, substance use, and women’s health.In addition, she has been instrumental in implementing large NIH funded research projects with strong leadership qualities and site management skills.

Dr. Suryavanshi has established extensive networks with regional non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local TB and HIV programs. She has developed and co-developed various social and behavioural projects. During the past 22 years, she has overseen the clinical research studies related to HIV/AIDS and TB at of BJGMC-JHU Clinical research site in Pune, India.

Dr. Suryavanshi completed a CDC grant to enhance the capacity of outreach workers catering to HIV-infected pregnant women to uptake PMTCT services using mHealth platform. She is leading a Hybrid trail for Alcohol reduction intervention among HIV and HIV/TB patients at two sites in Pune, India, an operational project assessing the implementation of 3HP TB preventive therapy among People Living with HIV and a longitudinal qualitative study to understand treatment experiences of children with drug resistant TB.

She has been selected as a mentor of the USAID PEER Mentorship program for women in TB research. Currently, she is mentoring 5 junior scientists from Johns Hopkins and Tulane University. She is also serving as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of Capacity development in HIV and Mental health Research in Asia (D43 grant from Fogarty NIH)· She is Heading Behavioural and Social science Working Group, RePORT India consortium. Leading a training and mentoring committee for the JHUBI Clinical trials unit program. She has presented her work at national and international conferences and has published study findings in peer-reviewed journals with 70+ publications.

Dr. Suryavanshi attended the University of Pune, Maharashtra, India, where she earned her BSc in zoology, her MSc in Medical anthropology, and her Ph.D. in Anthropology. Additionally, she is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Summer Institute of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, where she studied the ethical issues related to human subjects research in developing countries.

Studies/Projects
Publications
News

Gut Microbiota of HIV Infected Pregnant Women

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2018-06-14

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Birth Outcomes in HIV Both antiretroviral-therapy (ART)-naïve and ART-experienced HIV-infected pregnant women have higher incidences of pre-term birth (PTB) compared to HIV-uninfected women. For example, the global prevalence of PTB is around 8%, while the rates in in HIV-infected...

Assessing Tuberculosis Transmission Dynamics, Drug Resistance and Recurrence Using Whole Genome Sequencing in Pune, India

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2018-06-12

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Indo-JHU researchers are using combined geospatial and genotyping methods to describe TB transmission dynamics in a hyperlocal region of Pune City in Western India.

Optimal Approach for TB Screening among HIV Infected Indian Children

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2018-06-11

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This study was terminated May 20, 2019. It was funded by the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Determining TB status (ie, uninfected, latent, and active TB disease) is more difficult among children, particularly HIV-infected children...

P2005: A Phase I/II Open-Label, Single-Arm Study to Evaluate the Pharmacokinetics, Safety, and Tolerability of Delamanid in Combination with OBR for MDR-TB in HIV-Infected and Uninfected Children with MDR-TB

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2018-06-07

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New study will characterize the pharmacokinetics of delamanid using a model-based approach, and evaluate safety and tolerability of over 24 weeks of study treatment in HIV infected and uninfected children.

Assessing the Impact of the Fogarty HIV-TB Training Program at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College, Pune, India

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2018-01-19

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This study was terminated in January 2021. It was funded by the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Johns Hopkins University was funded in 2013 to establish a new post-doctoral training program in HIV-TB epidemiology, clinical and...

Perceptions of HCWs on Barriers and Opportunities to Airborne Infection Control Guideline Implementation

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2017-12-07

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This study was terminated in December 2020 It was funded and conducted under the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center. Led by Dr. Nishi Suryavanshi, this qualitative, cross-sectional study is assessing healthcare worker (HCW) perceptions about...

The Role of GeneXpert in Bacterial Diagnosis of Spinal Tuberculosis

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2017-10-26

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This study was teriminated June 19, 2019. It was funded by the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. India has the maximum burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world. In 2014, there were an estimated 9.6 million incident...

Zika Surveillance among Antenatal Clinic Outpatients in BJ Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospitals, Pune, India

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2017-08-31

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This study was terminated July 21, 2020. Zika virus is a vector-borne disease carried by the mosquito Aedes aegypti . Pregnant women infected with Zika may pass the virus to the fetus, which may cause microcephaly and other severe brain defects. It is also linked to...

A5332: Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV – REPRIEVE

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2017-06-09

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This study is conducted under the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. This is a prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter efficacy study in 6500 subjects, with individual subjects to be followed...

A5349: Rifapentine-containing Treatment Shortening Regimens for Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Randomized, Open-label, Controlled Phase 3 Clinical Trial

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2017-06-05

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This study is conducted under the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. This is an international, multicenter, randomized, controlled, open-label, 3-arm, phase 3 non-inferiority trial. Primary Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of a rifapentine-...

Understanding Quality of Life during and Loss to Follow-up from Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment in Pune, India

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2017-05-15

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This study will examine a) risk factors for loss to follow-up from DR-TB treatment, b) actively trace DR-TB patients lost to follow-up from treatment and c) establish a prospective observational cohort of MDR-TB, XDR-TB and DS-TB patients as well as healthy controls nested within ongoing...

Risk Factors for Unfavourable Treatment Outcomes among Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Patients in Public Sector Treatment in Pune

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2017-03-29

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This study is funded and conducted under the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center. This study seeks to identify risk factors associated with unfavourable treatment outcomes (death, treatment failure, default, XDR-TB) among multidrug-resistant...

MDR-TB Free: Monitoring Adverse Effects, Utilizing Resources Optimally, Knowing Resistance Patterns, and Treatment Strategy

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2017-03-24

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Hinduja Hospital

This study is also known as MDR-TB MUKT: Monitoring Adverse Effects, Utilizing Resources Optimally, Knowing Resistance Patterns, and Treatment Strategy. Purpose: To establish an observational cohort of MDR-TB cases and household contacts with accompanying biorepository at PD Hinduja National...

Impact of HIV and Diabetes Mellitus on TB Drug Resistance and Recurrence

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2017-03-02

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This study was terminated in January 2021. Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of mortality globally. With increasing burden of HIV and diabetes mellitus (DM), there is a critical need to understand the microbial response and ensuing disease dynamics of TB in the HIV-infected and diabetic host...

Multicenter Study of the Accuracy of the BD MAX MDR-TB Assay for Detection of M. tuberculosis Complex and Mutations Associated with Resistance to Rifampin or Isoniazid

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2017-03-01

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In a multi-country study, we are assessing the accuracy of the BD MAX rapid MDR-TB assay to detect rifampin and isoniazid resistance.

TREAT Asia Pediatric HIV Observational Database

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2017-02-09

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Studies conducted under the TREAT Asia Network and funded by amfAR. TREAT Asia Pediatric HIV Observational Database (TApHOD) is a collaborative observational cohort study of infants, children, and adolescents living with HIV. TApHOD study participants are...

TREAT Asia Observational Database

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2017-02-09

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Study conducted under the TREAT Asia Network and funded by amfAR. The TREAT Asia Observational Database's primary study objective is to: Examine HIV natural history, including the relationship between access to ART, demographics, and...

Cost-effectiveness of Xpert MTB/RIF for Diagnosing Pulmonary Tuberculosis in HIV-positive Patients

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2016-12-01

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This study was terminated October 8, 2019. This is a prospective cross-sectional study which will be conducted at BJGMC in Pune, India. The aim of this study is to see whether Xpert MTB/RIF is useful for early detection of pulmonary tuberculosis, and therefore cost-effective, as compared with...

Barriers to Early Treatment Initiation in Childhood Tuberculosis in High Incidence Setting

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2016-04-21

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This study was terminated October 25, 2019. Funded by the Fogarty International Center and led by PI Dr. Chhaya Tukaram Valvi, the aim of this study is to evaluate the time to treatment initiation and barriers to early treatment initiation in childhood tuberculosis. TB...

Barriers to Implementation of Isoniazid Preventive Treatment (IPT) in Pediatric Contacts of Sputum Positive Adults with Tuberculosis

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2016-03-24

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This study was terminated January 3, 2019. It was funded by the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Young children infected with M.tuberculosis can rapidly progress to pulmonary and extrapulmonary disease with high rates of mortality and...

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A mobile health-facilitated behavioral intervention for community health workers improves exclusive breastfeeding and early infant HIV diagnosis in India: A cluster randomized trial

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2020-07-03

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Journal of the International AIDS Society

When community health workers used a mobile health intervention with HIV+ women to deliver care, there was a higher uptake of exclusive breastfeeding at two months and early infant HIV diagnosis at six weeks

Acceptability and Feasibility of a Behavioral and Mobile Health Intervention (COMBIND) Shown to Increase Uptake of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Care in India

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2020-05-24

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BMC Public Health

A cluster-randomized trial recently demonstrated that an integrated behavioral and mobile technology intervention improved uptake of key components of a Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Option B+ program, among HIV- infected pregnant/breastfeeding women in India.

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

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2019-11-11

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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...

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

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2019-10-01

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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...

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

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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

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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...

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

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2019-07-01

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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?

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2019-06-21

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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

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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.

Respiratory health status is associated with treatment outcomes in pulmonary tuberculosis

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2019-04-19

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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...

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

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2019-03-28

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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...

Elevated highly sensitive C-reactive protein and d-dimer levels are associated with food insecurity among people living with HIV in Pune, India

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2019-03-04

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Public Health Nutrition

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence and determinants of food insecurity among people living with HIV (PLWH) in Pune, India and its association with biomarkers known to confer increased risks of morbidity and mortality in this population. DESIGN:...

Female global health leadership: Data-driven approaches to close the gender gap

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2019-02-09

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The Lancet

Lancet article investigates gender-based challenges of female health trainees and professionals and identifies interventions

Drug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae colonization is associated with healthcare utilization and antimicrobial use among inpatients in Pune, India

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2018-10-04

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BMC Infectious Diseases

BACKGROUND: Healthcare exposure may increase drug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae colonization risk. Nascent antimicrobial stewardship efforts in low- and middle-income countries require setting-specific data. We aimed to evaluate risk factors for inpatient drug resistant...

The association of household fine particulate matter and kerosene with tuberculosis in women and children in Pune, India

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2018-09-07

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Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Use of kerosene cooking fuel is positively associated with TB in women and children in our analysis using reported sources of exposure.

Challenges and opportunities for outreach workers in the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) program in India

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2018-09-04

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PLoS One

PLoS One: Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV program in India is one of the largest in the world, and it relies on outreach workers. Our study looked at challenges and opportunities for outreach workers.

Trends in HbA1c levels and implications for diabetes screening in tuberculosis cases undergoing treatment in India

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2018-07-01

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International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

SETTING: The optimal timing of screening for diabetes mellitus (DM) among tuberculosis (TB) cases is unclear due to the possibility of stress hyperglycemia. DESIGN: We evaluated adult (18 years) pulmonary TB cases at treatment initiation as well as at 3 months,...

Loss to follow‐up and mortality among HIV‐infected adolescents receiving antiretroviral therapy in Pune, India

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2018-06-25

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HIV Medicine

Over 6 years, one-third of HIV+ adolescents in this study discontinued medical treatment, indicating a critical need for retention counselling and closer clinical monitoring.

Diabetes and prediabetes among household contacts of tuberculosis patients in India: Is it time to screen them all?

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2018-06-01

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International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

SETTING: Pre-diabetes mellitus (pre-DM) and DM increase the risk of developing tuberculosis (TB). Screening contacts of TB patients for pre-DM/DM and linking them to care may mitigate the risk of developing TB and improve DM management. OBJECTIVE: To measure the prevalence of pre-DM/DM and...

Sources of household air pollution and their association with fine particulate matter in low-income urban homes in India

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2018-05-23

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Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology

INTRODUCTION: Household air pollution (HAP) is poorly characterized in low-income urban Indian communities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A questionnaire assessing sources of HAP and 24 h household concentrations of particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (...

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Women's Empowerment at BJGMC World TB Day 2017

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2017-04-03

Posted 2017-04-03

Health on the Go: Mobile Clinic Delivers TB Services at Point of Need

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2017-03-24

Thanks to Raj and Bharti Shah, CTIS, & the NB Shah Charitable Trust, we are able to reach more people in Maharashtra who need care

World AIDS Day 2016 at BJGMC

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2016-12-06

Read more about 2016 World AIDS Day activities at the BJGMC Clinical Site in Pune, India.

Can Technology & Training Promote Retention in Care & Prevent HIV Transmission?

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2016-05-10

When HIV+ mothers are actively engaged in care, they are far less likely to transmit the disease to their babies. And while HIV+ women in India generally seek initial care, maintaining continuity of care can be challenging. One study in India seeks to answer the question: Can a focused...

Feasibility Study Complete on Preventive Therapy for Household Contacts of MDR-TB Patients in Pune, India

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2016-03-31

March 31, 2016—Pune, India—The Baltimore-Washington-India Clinical Trials Unit is pleased to announce that the BJGMC Clinical Research Site (BJGMC-CRS) in Pune, India, just finished the feasibility study titled A5300/IMPAACT2003: Study of MDR-TB Cases and their Household Contacts: Operational...

Up Close: Nishi Suryavanshi

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2016-03-01

Combining Behavioral and Clinical Research to Improve Health Outcomes for Women in India “If there is one thing I have learned during my extensive field experience in rural areas, it’s that no disease is a purely clinical in nature,” notes behavioral scientist Nishi Suryavanshi,...

Advancing Global TB Research through RePORT

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2016-02-29

Regional Prospective Observational Research for Tuberculosis (RePORT) International is a large, international tuberculosis research effort being undertaken by 4 regional consortia: RePORT Brazil, RePORT South Africa, RePORT Indonesia, and RePORT India. While each region collects and maintains...

Tuberculosis test may underreport in pregnant women with HIV

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2016-01-28

Source:

Infectious Disease Advisor

Pregnancy may confound tuberculosis (TB) tests results in women with HIV, according to research published in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine .

Tuberculosis scare in HIV positive pregnant women: most widely-used tuberculosis test fails to diagnose illness

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2016-01-28

Source:

International Business Times

The most commonly-used tuberculosis (TB) test, TST, has failed to detect TB in HIV positive pregnant women. A research published online in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine has revealed that the TB test failed to accurately diagnose the...

BJGMC Clinical Research Site Observes World AIDS Day

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2015-12-14

Pune, India—To mark the struggle of those living with HIV and in commemoration of those who have lost their lives, the Clinical Research Site at Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College (BJGMC CRS) participated in the National AIDS Trust’s World AIDS Day ...

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