Mentorship Team

Dr. Harrison is Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Head of the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit in the University of Pittsburgh. He is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases and received three years of training in infectious diseases epidemiology as Epidemic Intelligence Service officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Harrison served as the faculty advisor for six doctoral students and multiple other trainees from Brazil and Mozambique under previous Fogarty HIV research training programs that he directed. Dr. Harrison has experience in epidemiologic studies of HIV infection, including studies of noncommunicable diseases in PWH. He is priniciple investigator of the Microbial Genomic Epidemiology Laboratory, which performs whole genome sequencing of bacterial and viral pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2.

Dr. Harrison will be responsible for the overall management of the Pitt-MozHRTP in close collaboration with Dr. Viegas and Dr. Nachega. He will serve as a mentor in the areas of clinical epidemiology and genomic epidemiology for post-doctoral trainees at Pitt and for other trainees as needed.

Dr. Brooks is a Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Pitt, received her doctoral training in statistics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has substantial experience in study design, study monitoring and oversight, and data analysis for observational studies and clinical trials. Dr. Brooks will be available for consultation on study design analysis of the CCD-PWH research projects of our trainees.

Dr. McMahon is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and has more than 25 years of HIV research experience. She is currently engaged in the implementation of protocols focused on the HIV reservoir and cure strategies with the ACTH and other collaborative groups. She also directs the HRSA-funded Early Intervention Project (HRSA Ryan White Care Act funding). Dr. McMahon will oversee observerships in the PACT clinic, including how diabetes, CVD, and other chronic diseases are managed in PWH. 

Dr. Riddler is Professor of Medicine and Site Leader for the NIH-funded HIV/AIDS Pitt CRS which is affiliated with both the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and the MTN. She has more than 18 years of experience in design and implementation of clinical trials funded by NIH and industry. She has served as Chair or Co-Chair for multiple ACTG and MTN studies and is a Core Protocol Physician for the MTN. Dr. Riddler will provide mentorship in clinical research.

Dr. Morris is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, in the Department of Medicine. She leads the UPMC Post-COVID Recovery Clinic. In that role, she will provide access to the Clinic and oversee the training of post-doctoral trainees who study Long COVID.

Dr. Cooper is Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in the SOM. His research focuses on microbial evolution, population biology, and mechanisms of pathogen adaptation for bacteria and SARS-CoV-2. He is an expert in whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2. He will provide training in SARS-CoV-2 evolution, genomics, and bioinformatics.

Dr. Parikh is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Associate Director of the MTN Virology Core. She has experience in providing training in HIV laboratory assays to investigators in Mozambique. Dr. Parikh has recently developed substantial experience in SARS-CoV-2 immunologic assays. Dr. Parikh will be available to mentor CISPOC and CIOB trainees interested in training in basic HIV laboratory assays and in SARS-CoV-2 immunologic assays.

Dr. Rinaldo is Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. He has been PI of the Pittsburgh site of the MACS since he initiated the project in 1983 and runs an active and successful HIV immunology laboratory that focuses on cellular immunity to HIV. Dr. Rinaldo will provide access to the Pittsburgh MACS cohort and mentorship in SARS-CoV-2 immunologic assays.

Dr. Viegas received her medical degree from the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique in 2008 and a PhD in Medical Science from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in 2017. She joined INS in 2009, was appointed as the Scientific Director of CISPOC in 2011 and became General Director in 2018. In 2020, she was promoted to Head of the Maputo City Branch of the INS, which oversees research at CISPOC. Dr. Viegas has been working in HIV research for 12 years and has been leading the HIV vaccine program in the country since its inception. Dr. Viegas has experience in coordinator for the NIH Division of AIDS network and oversees HVTN studies at CISPOC. She is also responsible for all INS activities in the Maputo area. Dr, Viegas will be responsible for identifying promising candidates for training, will work closely with Dr. Harrison and Dr. Nachega on all aspects of the training program.

Dr. Bhatt is Research Director at Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in Mozambique. Until 2018, he was the General Director of CISPOC and therefore has in-depth knowledge of training needs at CISPOC. He received his PhD from Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has served as PI for multiple HIV research studies in Mozambique. Dr. Bhatt will provide mentorship in HIV infection and co-morbidities.

Dr. Damasceno is Professor of Medicine, a cardiologist, and former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, all at UEM. He leads the CVD research unit at Maputo General Hospital. Dr. Damasceno has in-depth knowledge of cardiovascular disease in Mozambique, including among PWH. He has published more than 130 papers on the field of cardiology and risk factors for non-communicable diseases. He will provide mentorship for trainees with an interest in studying CVD in PWH.

Dr. De Schacht is Director of Evaluations for Friends in Global Health, Mozambique, and, in that role, works closely with the Ministry of Health. Her research interests are on HIV therapy and prevention of maternal to child transmission. More recently she has been involved in assessing the impact of COVID-19 in PWH, both on access and provision of HIV services as well as on clinical and immunological outcomes of COVID-19 in PWH. Dr. De Schacht will provide mentorship in epidemiologic studies of COVID-19 in PWH.

Dr. Jani is Director General of the Mozambique National Institute of Health. Dr. Jani’s research interests involve HIV/AIDS vaccine immunology and point-of-care laboratory tests, including the deployment of these technologies in resource-limited health systems. Dr. Jani will provide mentorship to trainees with an interest in HIV and COVID-19 epidemiology, as well as SARS-CoV-2 immunology.

Dr. Mocumbi is Associate Professor of Cardiology at Eduardo Mondlane University and Head of the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) Division National Public Health Institute. She did her medical training at UEM and received her PhD in neglected diseases from Imperial College London. Her research focuses on CVD in patients with HIV. Dr. Mocumbi will provide mentorship for Pitt-MozHRTP trainees with an interest in research on chronic diseases in PWH.

Dr. Nunes is Professor of Pulmonology at Eduardo Mondlane University and Head of Pulmonology at Central Hospital of Maputo. Dr. Nunes’ research focuses on pulmonary diseases, including COVID-19. Accordingly, Dr. Nunes will provide mentorship in the area of chronic sequelae of COVID-19 in PWH.

Dr. Sevene is Deputy Director for Research, Eduardo Mondlane University School of Medicine. She has expertise in epidemiologic studies of HIV, TB, viral hepatitis, and malaria. She is also an international expert in pharmacovigilance and is now expanding her work to include COVID-19 vaccines. She has substantial experience in mentoring students at the master’s and PhD levels. Dr. Sevene will mentor selected Pitt-MozHRTP trainees in clinical/pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of COVID-19 in PWH.

Dr. Nachega is Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Pitt and Director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases at SU. He is an infectious diseases internist trained in epidemiology, health economics, tropical public health, and medicine. His research, teaching, and professional activities include planning, design, monitoring, and evaluating clinical trials, cohort studies and programs for prevention treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. He is currently the co-PI of an NIH R21 grant on cardiometabolic outcomes and approaches to prevention of dolutegravir-associated weight gain in South African PWH and is Co-PD of a D43 program in South Africa on HIV comorbidities research. He has experience in coordinating the degree training of investigators from Mozambique at SU. Dr. Nachega will oversee training of CISPOC investigators at SU and will serve as research mentor for selected candidates who pursue training in clinical epidemiology.

Dr. Cotton is Senior Specialist, Division of Infectious Diseases, Tygerberg Children’s Hospital and SU. He is Director of the Family Clinic for the Children’s Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Unit and Principal Investigator of the Stellenbosch Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trial Group site. He is a Specialist in Pediatric Infectious Diseases with extensive experience in managing HIV-infected children. Most recently he has gained expertise in clinical and epidemiologic aspects of COVID-19. Dr. Cotton will be available to provide mentorship in clinical and epidemiologic studies of COVID-19 in PWH.

Dr. Innes is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health at SU. His research focuses on non-communicable diseases in children with HIV infection, including dyslipidemia and premature atherosclerosis in children treated with ART. He has substantial experience with NIH funding, including an award (R01HD083042) on screening for atherosclerotic vascular disease in HIV-infected children. Dr. Innes will provide his expertise in the area of cardiovascular disease in PWH.

Dr. De Oliveira is Professor in the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking at SU, and Co-Director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) in the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine. He is a molecular biologist with extensive experience in phylogenetics and phylogeography of emergent viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. He will provide mentorship to trainees who wish to study phylogenomics of SARS-CoV-2.

Dr. Kengne is Director of the Non-Communicable Diseases Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council and Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Global Health at SU. He is an internist and chronic diseases epidemiologist with a rapidly developing program of research on co-morbid non-communicable diseases in PWH. In addition, he has successfully developed and tested the South African Diabetes Prevention Program (SADPP) intervention package. Dr. Kengne will provide mentorship to trainees in the area of diabetes and CVD in PWH.

Dr. Preiser is a Professor and Head of Division of Medical Virology at Stellenbosch University. He has a background in medicine and specialization in medical virology. Dr Preiser was a member of the team that isolated and characterized the causative coronavirus during the 2003 SARS outbreak of 2003. Dr. Preiser will be available to provide research mentoring in laboratory aspects of HIV and SARS-CoV-2.

Dr. Van Zyl is Senior Specialist in the Division of Medical Virology, SU and Tygerberg Hospital. His chief responsibilities are diagnostic service delivery to Tygerberg Hospital and lecturing on medical virology at the SU Faculty of Health Sciences. Dr. van Zyl has substantial expertise in HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 genomics and will be available to provide research training in these areas.