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Heidi J Zapata, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor
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About

Titles

Assistant Professor

Biography

My interest in microbes started in college when I did a research project on Trypanosomes, the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness. I was struck with how the membrane of the parasite changed its surface antigens to circumvent the host immune response. My interest in the host microbe relationship continued during my MD/Ph.D., during which my thesis work focused on Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV), the cause of chicken pox and shingles. We demonstrated that the VZV virus had co-evolved to become highly dependent on the cellular signaling proteins JNK and ERK, which was beautifully illustrated when we found that the virus had hijacked these cellular proteins and had incorporated them into the virion. My research interests inspired my choice to pursue Infectious Diseases as a specialty.

During my Infectious Disease fellowship at Yale, my clinical experiences repeatedly demonstrated that different human hosts respond very diferrently to infection. The same microbe could produce a mild disease in one person, and an overwhelming sepsis in an another. I especially noted that both older adults and HIV-infected individuals had particularly different responses. With each patient I saw, the important role the host response plays in infection was underscored. Overall, my clinical experiences have solidified the importance of the host-microbe relationship, and have pushed me to further understand the host innate immune response through my research.

Appointments

Education & Training

Fellowship
Yale School of Medicine (2014)
Residency
University of Virginia-Charlottesville (2011)
PhD
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Microbiology and Immunology (2008)
MD
SUNY Upstate Med Center (2008)

Research

Overview

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Aging; HIV; Immune System; Immunity, Innate

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Heidi J Zapata's published research.

Publications

Featured Publications

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2018

2017

Clinical Care

Overview

Heidi J. Zapata, MD, PhD, is an infectious disease specialist and immunologist at Yale Medicine, who sees inpatients at Yale New Haven Hospital and HIV-positive outpatients at the Nathan Smith Clinic in New Haven.

“Each patient teaches me more about how someone responds to an infection,” says Dr. Zapata. “I love learning. Each person has a story, and that helps us figure out why a certain infection has taken hold in that particular person.”

Dr. Zapata is fascinated by microbes. “It started in college with one of my first research projects that studied Trypanosomes (the parasite that causes sleeping sickness), continued during the pursuit of my PhD, when I studied the chicken pox virus, and is confirmed with each patient I see,” she says.

As a physician-scientist, she wants to understand why each human–microbe relationship is different. “One of my major research interests is why one person will die or get really sick from a microbe [bacteria, virus, fungi], and another person will only get mildly sick,” she says.

When treating patients for infectious diseases ranging from HIV to COVID-19, Dr. Zapata customizes her approach. She tailors each treatment to each microbe in a specific manner that is driven by culture data to help patients have their best chance at fighting off the infection. “I tell my patients that every person is different in how they will respond to infections, and that we will do our best to figure this out,” she says.

Dr. Zapata is also an assistant professor of medicine (infectious diseases) in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine.

Clinical Specialties

Infectious Diseases

Fact Sheets

Board Certifications

  • Infectious Disease

    Certification Organization
    AB of Internal Medicine
    Latest Certification Date
    2015
    Original Certification Date
    2013

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