The introduction of antiretroviral therapy has transformed HIV from a fatal disease to a chronic condition, with suppression of the virus and restoration of immune function that leads to improvement of ongoing infections and decreased susceptibility to new ones. When people start therapy with low CD4 counts (more damaged immune system) about 10–20% of them develop an aberrant inflammatory response (IRIS=immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome) that is typically directed against an underlying infection, for example tuberculosis. The main risk factors for IRIS include severe CD4 lymphopenia and opportunistic infections and it can be associated with high morbidity and even mortality. My group has been studying both the incidence and clinical presentations of IRIS in the clinic and its pathogenesis in the laboratory, with the goal to discover better biomarkers and targeted preventive or therapeutic interventions.

Biography:
Dr Sereti is the Branch Chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at NIAID. After her Internal Medicine training and Chief residency at Northwestern University in Chicago, she completed an infectious disease fellowship at NIAID/NIH and joined the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, initially as a staff clinician, and starting in 2009 as a tenure track investigator. She received tenure in 2015. Her group studies the acute (IRIS) and long-term inflammatory complications of treated HIV and the etiology, prognosis, and management of idiopathic CD4 lymphopenia, a rare disorder of low CD4 counts in the absence of HIV. She is a member of the executive committees of the NIH-Oxford and Cambridge PhD program, and of the Women Scientists Advisors group at NIH. She is an associate editor at the Journal of Infectious Diseases and a member of the panels of the Human and Health Services HIV treatment guidelines and the Infectious Disease Society of America immunomodulatory guidance. Dr Sereti is a physician-scientist with a strong commitment to diversity, excellence in clinical care and mentorship.