Keynote: Ravindra Gupta FRCP, FRCPath, FRSB, FMedSci
Myeloid cells as HIV reservoirs
Ravi Gupta is Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Cambridge University. Gupta has worked in HIV drug resistance both at molecular and population levels, and his work led to change in WHO treatment guidelines for HIV. He led the study demonstrating HIV eradication in the ‘London Patient’ – the world’s second recorded cure in history. During the COVID-19 pandemic Gupta has deployed his expertise in RNA virus genetics and biology to report that SARS-CoV-2 variants likely arise in immune compromised individuals who are also at greatest risk of severe disease. Gupta reported the first real world data on vaccine escape responses towards VOC, defined the replication advantage of the Delta variant, and the tropism shift of Omicron-explaining why this variant is less severe. In addition his group has defined mechanisms behind poorer vaccine responses in the elderly. Gupta has advised the UK government on COVID-19 through SAGE and NERVTAG. In 2020 appeared in the list of 100 most influential people by TIME and in 2022 featured in the Clarivate list of the world’s most highly cited scientists.
ESI Presentation: Amelia Deitchman, PharmD, PhD
Defining Drug Action for HIV Cure
Dr. Deitchman received her Doctor of Pharmacy and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Florida before joining UCSF as a T32 Clinical Pharmacology Fellow in 2018. She has developed her research program on HIV cure clinical pharmacology in the Drug Research Unit, a CFAR Pharmacology subcore, where she has served as co-Director since 2022. Her ultimate goal is to inform drug development for HIV cure through the study drug effects on immune and viral outcomes in curative clinical trials. In addition to receiving numerous CFAR and ARI grants, as well as K12 and K23 Career Development Awards, she is the recipient of the 2024 Darrell Abernethy Early Stage Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. She is engaged with ongoing studies at UCSF and within ACTG as pharmacologist on multiple studies and as Cure Transformative Science Group Pharmacologist and Investigator. In addition to her own research program, she is delighted to support pharmacology efforts through intense collaboration with many UCSF and extramural labs focused on therapeutic and biomarker PK/PD in infectious disease and other therapeutic areas.