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Elijah Paintsil, FAAP, MD

Professor Adjunct in Pediatrics
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Additional Titles

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases), Pediatrics

Professor, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

Professor of Pharmacology, Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology

Professor of Management, School of Management

About

Titles

Professor Adjunct in Pediatrics

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases), Pediatrics; Professor, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases; Professor of Pharmacology, Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology; Professor of Management, School of Management

Biography

The Paintsil laboratory focuses on increasing our understanding of the host determinants of individual differences in response to antiretroviral therapy; biomarkers and pathogenesis of increasing incidence of cancers in HIV treatment-experienced individuals.

Appointments

Education & Training

Fellow
Yale University School of Medicine (2005)
Resident
Lincoln Medical Center, Bronx, NY (2002)
Intern
Lincoln Medical Center, Bronx, NY (2000)
Intern
Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana (1994)
MD
Ghana Medical School

Research

Overview

Our research focuses on understanding the determinants of individual differences in response to antiretroviral therapy (ART) (e.g., virologic suppression, resistance evolution, and clinical toxicities). This research interest was fostered by an NIH career development award (K08) from 2008 to 2013. During this period, we studied various host determinants such as individual differences in the intracellular concentrations of antiretroviral drugs, cellular kinases involved in the phosphorylation of nucleoside analogs, and ATP-binding Cassette (ABC) transport proteins, and effect of treatment on mitochondrial function. These findings challenged the existing paradigm that only nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) caused mitochondrial dysfunction through inhibition of mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma (Pol-ɣ) – the “Pol-ɣ hypothesis.” The studies identified other Pol-ɣ-independent pathways that can lead to mitochondrial dysfunction such as depletion of nucleotide pool and mitochondria DNA mutations. This led to the development of the novel hypothesis that ART causes mitochondrial dysfunction through both pol-γ-dependent and pol-γ-independent mechanisms, which results in a decrease in cellular dNTP and rNTP pools and genomic instability resulting in clinical toxicity and aging-related disorders in HIV-infected.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Brazil; Ghana; Hepatitis C; HIV; HIV Reverse Transcriptase; Infectious Disease Medicine; Molecular Epidemiology; Pediatrics; Pharmacology

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Elijah Paintsil's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Infectious Diseases Research

  • honor

    American Academy of Pediatrics, Fellow

  • honor

    Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Member

  • honor

    Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, Member

Get In Touch

Contacts

Academic Office Number
Appointment Number
Lab Number
Clinic Fax Number
Mailing Address

Pediatric Infectious Diseases

PO Box 208064

New Haven, CT 06520-8064

United States