Sunil Parikh M.D., M.P.H.

Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

Research Interests

translation research in malaria, pharmacology of antimalarials, hiv-malaria co-infection, host response to malaria infection, innate immunity to malaria

Current Projects

1) Antimalarial Pharmacology in HIV Coinfected Children and Pregnant Women in Uganda

Major Goal: To assess the PK/PD and pharmacogenetics of antimalarials in the context of HIV therapy, age, and pregnancy.

2) Innate Immune Responses in Populations with Differing Susceptibility to Malaria in Burkina Faso

Major Goal: Through the study of early antimalarial transcriptional and functional cellular responses in two ethnic groups with differing susceptibility to malaria, we will identify the key innate pathways which underlie this differential ability to control parasitemia

3) Antimalarial-Antiretroviral Drug Interaction studies in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Malawi

4) Dynamic Malaria Modelling in conjunction with Alyson Galvani

Research Summary

Professor Parikh’s research interests focus on translational studies of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Parikh focuses upon several aspects of malaria: early host immune responses to infection, human genetics, and treatment. Current projects include: (1) understanding host factors affecting response to artemisinin-based antimalarial therapies using a combination of individual and population-based pharmacologic approaches to inform treatment guidelines; 2) characterizing the impact of host genetic and transcriptional variability in early immune responses to malaria; and 3) understanding the impact of the HIV epidemic on the treatment of malaria in co-endemic regions. Dr. Parikh has ongoing projects in several African countries, including Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria.

Selected Publications