Faculty

Research Interests: Effect of alcohol consumption on HIV pathogenesis, viral reservoir establishment and maintenance, and development of comorbid diseases.

PubMed Link

Scott Edwards, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Physiology LSUHSC School of Medicine
Director of the Information Dissemination Core

Research Interests: Investigation of neurobiological changes associated with altered motivational systems in drug and alcohol dependence.

Current research focus is on the interaction of addiction and chronic pain.

PubMed Link

Tekeda Ferguson, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Epidemiology LSUHSC School of Public Health
Co-Director of the Data Management Core

Research Interests: Chronic disease epidemiology, human studies, and surveillance data collection and analysis. Effects of alcohol use with traditional pathophysiologic measures and the social environment on chronic disease development in people living with HIV.

PubMed Link

Harry J. Gould, III, MD, PhD
Tom Benson Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience

Research Interests: Mechanisms in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Pain management and the role of voltage-gated sodium channels in the biology and management of advanced carcinomas

PubMed Link

Patricia E. Molina, MD, PhD

Richard Ashman Professor and Department Head of Physiology LSUHSC School of Medicine
Director Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center of Excellence
CARC Principal Investigator | Director T-32 Alcohol Training Grant

Research Interests: Intersection of unhealthy alcohol use with mechanisms involved in maintaining metabolic homeostasis in HIV infection. Focus on elucidating the pathophysiological mechanisms that ultimately contribute to increased risk of comorbid conditions in persons living with HIV.

PubMed Link

Steve Nelson, MD

John H. Seabury Professor
Department of Medicine/Pulmonary/Critical Care
Dean LSUHSC School of Medicine
Co-Director CARC Administrative Core

Research Interests: Effects of alcohol on HIV infection and disease progression; cytokine and chemokines responses; neutrophil function; and bacterial pneumonia.

PubMed Link

Lauren E. Richey, MD, MPH, FIDSA
Associate Professor of Medicine, LSUHSC
Medical Director of the Infectious Disease Center and HIV Outpatient Program

Research Interests: Health disparities and modifiable risk factors, such as tobacco, alcohol, and substance abuse in people living with HIV and Hepatitis C and factors affecting their linkage and retention in care.

PubMed Link

Martin Ronis, PhD
Professor
Department of Pharmacology LSUHSC School of Medicine
Director of the Pilot Core

Research Interests: Molecular basis for the toxic actions of alcohol, drugs and pollutants which might uncover therapeutic targets and the effects of nutritional status on pathological outcomes in exposed populations.

PubMed Link

Michael Salling, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Research Interests:

Understand the consequences of drugs of abuse on neuronal function and how that might affect cognition and future drug abuse.

PubMed Link

Robert Siggins, PhD
Assistant Professor of Physiology
Department of Physiology LSUHSC School of Medicine
Associate Director Analytical Core

Research Interests:

Alcohol- and HIV-induced cytotoxic T cell immunosenescence and exhaustion. Mitochondrial dysregulation in T cells. Alcohol- and HIV-associated precocious biological aging

PubMed Link

Liz Simon, MVSc., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Physiology
Department of Physiology LSUHSC School of Medicine
Co-Director of Experimental and Analytical Core

Research Interests: Intersection of alcohol with mechanisms responsible for proliferation and differentiation of stem/progenitor cells and its relevance to metabolic homeostatic control.

PubMed Link

Katherine P. Theall, PhD
Professor
Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences
Department of Epidemiology
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Research Interests: Policy, social network, and community influences on health disparities, including women and children’s health, with a particular emphasis on neighborhood conditions; race and gender inequities; substance use and mental health; and social epidemiologic theory and methods.

PubMed Link

David A. Welsh, MD
Howard A. Buechner Professor of Medicine
Section of Pulmonary/Critical Care LSUHSC School of Medicine
Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology
Co-Director of Experimental and Analytical Core

Research Interests: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Maladaptive Health Behaviors (Alcohol, Tobacco, Substance Use). Lung Host Defense. Biological Age & Geriatric Syndrome Pathogenesis. Microbiota - Host Interactions. Inflamm-aging and Immunosenescence.

PubMed Link

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