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DIVISION
OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Division Head, Robert T. Schooley, MD, The
Tim Gill Professor of Medicine
The
Division of Infectious Diseases consists of faculty who are actively involved in
patient care, teaching, and research. It is a research-based Division with major
interests in AIDS pathogenesis and therapy, bacterial pathogenesis, and cytokine
biology. AIDS research activities include laboratory interest in the molecular
and immunopathogenesis of HIV-1 infection in adults and children, studies of the
molecular basis of resistance to antiretroviral drugs, studies of cellular
immunity to HIV-1 associated opportunistic infections, and studies directed at
the use of attenuated Salmonella as a strategy for mucosal immunization. The
Division is also the home of a rapidly growing research program that focuses on
the role of nitric oxide in human biology, as well as a broadly based series of
investigations of the role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of infectious and
inflammatory diseases.
The Division of Infectious Diseases consists of 25 faculty based at four
hospitals. The Division Head, Dr. Robert T. Schooley, has interests in
retroviral pathogenesis and therapy, and he serves as Chair of the Executive
committee of the National Institutes of Health's AIDS Clinical Trials Groups (ACTG).
This multicenter collaborative trials group, based at 35 academic medical
centers, is the largest federally sponsored clinical research organization in
the US. Dr. Constance A. Benson serves as Co-Chair of the ACTG Executive
Committee and has research interests in the area of antiviral chemotherapy and
the pathogenesis and treatment of infections in immunocompromised hosts. Dr.
Daniel Kuritzkes serves as Co-Principle Investigator of the Colorado AIDS
Clinical Trials Unit and as Head of the University of Colorado Center for AIDS
Research. Dr. Kuritzkes is nationally recognized for his work in the areas of
antiviral chemotherapy and of resistance to antiviral drugs.
Drs. Elizabeth Connick and Cara Wilson direct research programs focused on
the immunopathogenesis of HIV-1 infection. Dr. Connick has a particular interest
in primary HIV-1 infection, while Dr. Wilson is an expert in dendritic cell
biology. Dr. Thomas Campbell utilizes ribozymes to examine intracellular RNA
partitioning. In addition, his laboratory studies the epidemiology and molecular
biology of Human Herpes Virus, the causative agent for Kaposis sarcoma. Dr.
Leland Shapiro studies the roles of IL-18, alpha-1
antitrypsin and of cellular proteases in HIV-1 infection.
Dr. Charles Dinarello, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is
internationally renowned for his studies of the pathobiology of cytokines in a
wide variety of disease states. Dr. Dinarello is credited with the
characterization of IL-1. Drs. Giamilla Fantuzzi and Leonid Reznikov are also
members of the Dinarello research group.
Dr. Ferric C. Fang directs the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory of the
University Hospital and directs an extremely productive laboratory that examines
the role of nitric oxide in host defenses and broader aspects of cell biology.
Dr. Jeffrey Shapiro has recently joined the faculty in this area.
The Postgraduate Training Program of the Division is directed by Dr. Nancy
Madinger, who also serves as
Assistant Director of the
Clinical Microbiology Laboratory of the University of Colorado Hospital and
directs
the molecular epidemiology efforts of the University Hospital Infection Control
Program. Dr. Theodore Eickhoff directs the
Infection Control Program of University of Colorado Hospital.
Dr. Steven Johnson directs the Infectious Disease Group Practice of
University Hospital. Dr. Wheaton
Williams and Alexander
Kallen are full time members of this program. This program provides
comprehensive primary care
to approximately 700 HIV-1 infected individuals and provides outpatient
consultative services in
general infectious diseases. The Group Practice is home to the University
Hospital Travel
Medicine Clinic and the Outpatient Antibiotic Treatment Program. The Infectious
Disease Group Practice
collaborates closely with clinical and translational research programs of the
Division and is recognized
for its quality control programs that have become the model for clinical
programs of the University
Hospital.
Dr. Mary Bessesen serves as Section Head of the Division at the Denver
Department of Veterans Affairs
Medical Center. She directs
the care of roughly 200 HIV- 1 infected individuals at the VAMC and has a
research interest in health
care outcomes.
Five members of the Division are based at the Denver Department of Public
Health. This program, under
the
direction of Dr. Franklyn Judson, provides comprehensive public health services
for the City and County
of Denver. Dr. David Cohn directs the Denver Community Program for Clinical
Research on AIDS
(CPCRA), an NIH-supported clinical research program that focuses on AIDS and its
complications.
Infectious Diseases Faculty
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