Biography
In 2019, Dr. Sandhya Vasan became the Principal Investigator representing HJF for EIDB's cooperative agreement (CA) with the DoD. In addition to overseeing HJF components of the CA, she provides key leadership for EIDB's clinical studies. She has been with EIDB since its inception in 2018, and prior to that she was with WRAIR's Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) in Bangkok, Thailand.
Dr. Vasan obtained her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before completing her MD at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School. After a residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, she worked as a Henry Luce Foundation Fellow at the Communicable Disease Centre in Singapore, where she studied patterns of tuberculosis and HIV co-infection and worked with the National University of Singapore to conduct public health surveillance studies in rural Indonesia. From 2002-2011, Dr. Vasan conducted clinical trials and nonhuman primate studies of HIV vaccines and adjuvants and related immunology research at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the Rockefeller University.
Dr. Vasan recently served as MHRP’s Associate Director for HIV Vaccine Research, and prior to that she served MHRP at AFRIMS in Bangkok for seven years as Science Director and head of the Nonhuman Primate Laboratory. At AFRIMS, she conducted preventive vaccine trials in follow-up to the RV144 HIV vaccine clinical trial. She also developed animal models to understand the mechanism of action of these vaccines and pursue novel HIV prevention strategies.
Recent Publications
1: Hellmuth J, Muccini C, Colby DJ, Kroon E, de Souza M, Crowell TA, Chan P, Sacdalan C, Intasan J, Benjapornpong K, Tipsuk S, Puttamaswin S, Chomchey N, Valcour V, Sarnecki M, Tomaka F, Krebs SJ, Slike BM, Jagodzinski LL, Dumrongpisutikul N, Sailasuta N, Samboju V, Michael NL, Robb ML, Vasan S, Ananworanich J, Phanuphak P, Phanuphak N, Paul R, Spudich S. Central nervous system safety during brief analytic treatment interruption of antiretroviral therapy within four HIV remission trials: an observational study in acutely treated people living with HIV. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Sep 11:ciaa1344. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1344. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32916708.
2: Dearlove B, Lewitus E, Bai H, Li Y, Reeves DB, Joyce MG, Scott PT, Amare MF, Vasan S, Michael NL, Modjarrad K, Rolland M. A SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate would likely match all currently circulating variants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Sep 22;117(38):23652-23662. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2008281117. Epub 2020 Aug 31. PMID: 32868447.
3: Tiamiyu AB, Lawlor J, Hu F, Kokogho A, Charurat ME, Ekeh C, Robb ML, Adebajo S, Eluwa G, Ake JA, Baral SD, Nowak RG, Crowell TA; TRUST/RV368 Study Group. HIV status disclosure by Nigerian men who have sex with men and transgender women living with HIV: a cross-sectional analysis at enrollment into an observational cohort. BMC Public Health. 2020 Aug 26;20(1):1282. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09315-y. PMID: 32842997; PMCID: PMC7448976.
4: Han WM, Colby DJ, Khlaiphuengsin A, Apornpong T, Kerr SJ, Ubolyam S, Kroon E, Phanuphak N, Vasan S, Matthews GV, Avihingsanon A, Ruxrungtham K, Phanuphak P, Tangkijvanich P. Large transmission cluster of acute hepatitis C identified among HIV-positive men who have sex with men in Bangkok, Thailand. Liver Int. 2020 Sep;40(9):2104-2109. doi: 10.1111/liv.14578. Epub 2020 Jul 20. PMID: 32574394.
5: Fischinger S, Shin S, Boudreau CM, Ackerman M, Rerks-Ngarm S, Pitisuttithum P, Nitayaphan S, Kim JH, Robb ML, Michael NL, O'Connell RJ, Vasan S, Streeck H, Alter G. Protein-based, but not viral vector alone, HIV vaccine boosting drives an IgG1-biased polyfunctional humoral immune response. JCI Insight. 2020 Jun 18;5(12):e135057. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.135057. PMID: 32554928; PMCID: PMC7406243.
6: Nowak RG, Schumaker LM, Ambulos NP, Ndembi N, Dauda W, Nnaji CH, Mitchell A, Mathias TJ, Jibrin P, Darragh TM, Olaomi O, Crowell TA, Baral SD, Charurat ME, Bentzen SM, Palefsky JM, Cullen KJ; TRUST/RV368 Study Group. Multiple HPV infections among men who have sex with men engaged in anal cancer screening in Abuja, Nigeria. Papillomavirus Res. 2020 May 31;10:100200. doi: 10.1016/j.pvr.2020.100200. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32492573; PMCID: PMC7287273.
7: Wansom T, Pinyakorn S, Kolsteeg CJ, Kroon E, Sacdalan CP, Chomchey N, Ananworanich J, Vasan S, Phanuphak N, Colby DJ. Brief Report: Group Sex and Methamphetamine Use Fuel an Explosive Epidemic of Hepatitis C Among HIV-Infected Men Who Have Sex With Men in Bangkok, Thailand. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2020 Aug 1;84(4):331-335. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002356. PMID: 32282444.
8: Cale EM, Bai H, Bose M, Messina MA, Colby DJ, Sanders-Buell E, Dearlove B, Li Y, Engeman E, Silas D, O'Sullivan AM, Mann B, Pinyakorn S, Intasan J, Benjapornpong K, Sacdalan C, Kroon E, Phanuphak N, Gramzinski R, Vasan S, Robb ML, Michael NL, Lynch RM, Bailer RT, Pagliuzza A, Chomont N, Pegu A, Doria-Rose NA, Trautmann L, Crowell TA, Mascola JR, Ananworanich J, Tovanabutra S, Rolland M; RV397 Study Group. Neutralizing antibody VRC01 failed to select for HIV-1 mutations upon viral rebound. J Clin Invest. 2020 Jun 1;130(6):3299-3304. doi: 10.1172/JCI134395. PMID: 32182219; PMCID: PMC7259993.
9: Pitisuttithum P, Nitayaphan S, Chariyalertsak S, Kaewkungwal J, Dawson P, Dhitavat J, Phonrat B, Akapirat S, Karasavvas N, Wieczorek L, Polonis V, Eller MA, Pegu P, Kim D, Schuetz A, Jongrakthaitae S, Zhou Y, Sinangil F, Phogat S, Diazgranados CA, Tartaglia J, Heger E, Smith K, Michael NL, Excler JL, Robb ML, Kim JH, O'Connell RJ, Vasan S; RV306 study group. Late boosting of the RV144 regimen with AIDSVAX B/E and ALVAC-HIV in HIV-uninfected Thai volunteers: a double-blind, randomised controlled trial. Lancet HIV. 2020 Apr;7(4):e238-e248. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(19)30406-0. Epub 2020 Feb 6. PMID: 32035516; PMCID: PMC7247755.
10: Easterhoff D, Pollara J, Luo K, Janus B, Gohain N, Williams LD, Tay MZ, Monroe A, Peachman K, Choe M, Min S, Lusso P, Zhang P, Go EP, Desaire H, Bonsignori M, Hwang KK, Beck C, Kakalis M, O'Connell RJ, Vasan S, Kim JH, Michael NL, Excler JL, Robb ML, Rerks-Ngarm S, Kaewkungwal J, Pitisuttithum P, Nitayaphan S, Sinangil F, Tartaglia J, Phogat S, Wiehe K, Saunders KO, Montefiori DC, Tomaras GD, Moody MA, Arthos J, Rao M, Joyce MG, Ofek G, Ferrari G, Haynes BF. HIV vaccine delayed boosting increases Env variable region 2-specific antibody effector functions. JCI Insight. 2020 Jan 30;5(2):e131437. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.131437. PMID: 31996483; PMCID: PMC7098725.
Full publication list.