Skip to Main Content
DownloadHi-Res Photo

Shelli Farhadian, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Neurology

Contact Information

Shelli Farhadian, MD, PhD
Spudich Lab

Related Links

Yale Medicine

Patient Care

Are you a patient?Please visit the Yale Medicine website for information about the services we offer and making an appointment.View Doctor Profile

Research Summary

We take a multidisciplinary approach to understand and improve neurological outcomes for adults living with HIV, COVID-19, and other infections that affect the nervous system, through translational studies based in New Haven, CT.

Extensive Research Description

My research focuses on the neurological complications of systemic infections, including HIV and COVID-19. After completing my clinical training in Infectious Diseases, I pursued a research fellowship in Neuro-Infectious Diseases at the Yale School of Medicine, focusing my work on neurological complications of HIV in older adults on suppressive antiretroviral therapy. In my clinical role, I care for adults with neurological complications of HIV, COVID-19, Lyme, Syphilis, and other infectious diseases.

Research Interests

Brain; Encephalitis, Arbovirus; HIV; Internal Medicine; Neurosyphilis; HIV Infections; Infectious Disease Medicine

Public Health Interests

HIV/AIDS

Selected Publications

  • Divergent and self-reactive immune responses in the CNS of COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms.Song E, Bartley CM, Chow RD, Ngo TT, Jiang R, Zamecnik CR, Dandekar R, Loudermilk RP, Dai Y, Liu F, Sunshine S, Liu J, Wu W, Hawes IA, Alvarenga BD, Huynh T, McAlpine L, Rahman NT, Geng B, Chiarella J, Goldman-Israelow B, Vogels CBF, Grubaugh ND, Casanovas-Massana A, Phinney BS, Salemi M, Alexander JR, Gallego JA, Lencz T, Walsh H, Wapniarski AE, Mohanty S, Lucas C, Klein J, Mao T, Oh J, Ring A, Spudich S, Ko AI, Kleinstein SH, Pak J, DeRisi JL, Iwasaki A, Pleasure SJ, Wilson MR, Farhadian SF. Divergent and self-reactive immune responses in the CNS of COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms. Cell Reports Medicine 2021, 2: 100288. PMID: 33969321, PMCID: PMC8091032, DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2021.100288.
  • Maternal respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy is associated with a robust inflammatory response at the maternal-fetal interface.Lu-Culligan A, Chavan AR, Vijayakumar P, Irshaid L, Courchaine EM, Milano KM, Tang Z, Pope SD, Song E, Vogels CBF, Lu-Culligan WJ, Campbell KH, Casanovas-Massana A, Bermejo S, Toothaker JM, Lee HJ, Liu F, Schulz W, Fournier J, Muenker MC, Moore AJ, Konnikova L, Neugebauer KM, Ring A, Grubaugh ND, Ko AI, Morotti R, Guller S, Kliman HJ, Iwasaki A, Farhadian SF. Maternal respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy is associated with a robust inflammatory response at the maternal-fetal interface. Med (New York, N.Y.) 2021, 2: 591-610.e10. PMID: 33969332, PMCID: PMC8084634, DOI: 10.1016/j.medj.2021.04.016.
  • Acute encephalopathy with elevated CSF inflammatory markers as the initial presentation of COVID-19.Farhadian S, Glick LR, Vogels CBF, Thomas J, Chiarella J, Casanovas-Massana A, Zhou J, Odio C, Vijayakumar P, Geng B, Fournier J, Bermejo S, Fauver JR, Alpert T, Wyllie AL, Turcotte C, Steinle M, Paczkowski P, Dela Cruz C, Wilen C, Ko AI, MacKay S, Grubaugh ND, Spudich S, Barakat LA. Acute encephalopathy with elevated CSF inflammatory markers as the initial presentation of COVID-19. BMC Neurology 2020, 20: 248. PMID: 32552792, PMCID: PMC7301053, DOI: 10.1186/s12883-020-01812-2.
  • SARS-CoV-2 infection of the placenta.Hosier H, Farhadian SF, Morotti RA, Deshmukh U, Lu-Culligan A, Campbell KH, Yasumoto Y, Vogels CB, Casanovas-Massana A, Vijayakumar P, Geng B, Odio CD, Fournier J, Brito AF, Fauver JR, Liu F, Alpert T, Tal R, Szigeti-Buck K, Perincheri S, Larsen C, Gariepy AM, Aguilar G, Fardelmann KL, Harigopal M, Taylor HS, Pettker CM, Wyllie AL, Dela Cruz CS, Ring AM, Grubaugh ND, Ko AI, Horvath TL, Iwasaki A, Reddy UM, Lipkind HS. SARS-CoV-2 infection of the placenta. The Journal Of Clinical Investigation 2020, 130: 4947-4953. PMID: 32573498, PMCID: PMC7456249, DOI: 10.1172/JCI139569.
  • Newborn Dried Blood Spots for Serologic Surveys of COVID-19.Liu F, Nguyen M, Vijayakumar P, Kaplan A, Meir A, Dai Y, Wang E, Walsh H, Ring AM, Omer SB, Farhadian SF. Newborn Dried Blood Spots for Serologic Surveys of COVID-19. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 2020, 39: e454-e456. PMID: 33105339, PMCID: PMC7654948, DOI: 10.1097/INF.0000000000002918.
  • Markers of CNS Injury in Adults Living With HIV With CSF HIV Not Detected vs Detected <20 Copies/mL.Farhadian SF, Mistry H, Kirchwey T, Chiarella J, Calvi R, Chintanaphol M, Patel P, Landry ML, Robertson K, Spudich SS. Markers of CNS Injury in Adults Living With HIV With CSF HIV Not Detected vs Detected <20 Copies/mL. Open Forum Infectious Diseases 2019, 6: ofz528. PMID: 31893212, PMCID: PMC6934883, DOI: 10.1093/ofid/ofz528.
  • HIV and Age Do Not Synergistically Affect Age-Related T-Cell Markers.Farhadian S, Jalbert E, Deng Y, Goetz MB, Park LS, Justice A, Dubrow R, Emu B. HIV and Age Do Not Synergistically Affect Age-Related T-Cell Markers. Journal Of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (1999) 2018, 77: 337-344. PMID: 29140874, PMCID: PMC5807137, DOI: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000001595.
  • Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals microglia-like cells in cerebrospinal fluid during virologically suppressed HIV.Farhadian SF, Mehta SS, Zografou C, Robertson K, Price RW, Pappalardo J, Chiarella J, Hafler DA, Spudich SS. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals microglia-like cells in cerebrospinal fluid during virologically suppressed HIV. JCI Insight 2018, 3 PMID: 30232286, PMCID: PMC6237230, DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.121718.
  • Neurological Complications of HIV Infection.Farhadian S, Patel P, Spudich S. Neurological Complications of HIV Infection. Current Infectious Disease Reports 2017, 19: 50. PMID: 29164407, PMCID: PMC7456329, DOI: 10.1007/s11908-017-0606-5.
Edit Profile