Christopher Berger, MD, MSIMT is an assistant professor in the UCSF Division of Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine, clinically based at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. His research focuses on improving tuberculosis screening, diagnosis, and treatment programs globally through the use of implementation science and human-centered design principles. He works with Dr.
My research is focused on the innate immune mechanisms that control M. tuberculosis infection. Autophagy is one mechanism that macrophages use to control microbial infection by targeting bacteria for degradation in the lysosome.
My research group focuses on the 1) Development and evaluation of TB diagnostics and 2) Implementation and dissemination of evidence-based interventions to improve TB care in high burden countries. I helped establish a TB/HIV cohort at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. The cohort has resulted in important publications related to the etiology and outcomes of pneumonia and the performance of TB diagnostics in this population. Also in Uganda, I helped establish the Uganda Tuberculosis Implementation Research Consortium (U-TIRC).
My TB-related research focuses on how HIV influences TB transmission dynamics in Africa. Characterizing recent TB transmission networks, identifying sites of ongoing TB transmission, and understanding how HIV influences TB transmission are all critical steps in developing novel, strategic intensified TB case-finding approaches in Africa.
The focus of my TB work has been as a clinician, education/training specialist, and global consultant for the programmatic management of drug-resistant TB. I am the principal investigator and medical director of the CDC-funded TB Center of Excellence, the Curry International Tuberculosis Center (CITC). The mission of CITC is to create, enhance and disseminate state-of-the-art resources and models of excellence and perform research to control and eliminate TB in the United States and internationally.
My research focus is at the intersection of HIV and the brain, with a specific interest in HIV-associated cerebrovascular disease and TB meningitis. The goal of my work is to develop targetedinterventions to preserve neurological health in persons living with HIV in diverse settings. I am currently leading a phase 2 clinical trial investigating the pharmacokinetics of linezolid administered with high dose rifampin in the treatment of TB meningitis in persons living with HIV in Uganda.
My lab focuses on immunity to tuberculosis, to inform the rational design and development of new TB vaccines. Our work includes basic studies of mechanisms of immunity and immune evasion in TB, using mouse models. In addition, we study human immunity to TB, and discovered that in contrast to pathogens that employ antigenic variation to evade immunity and cause persistent infection, the human T cell antigens and epitopes of M. tuberculosis are highly conserved, even in strains that diverged from a common ancestor thousands of years ago.
My research is focused on tuberculosis (TB), TB/HIV, global health, and implementation research. Active projects include evaluating the feasibility, yield, and cost-effectiveness of TB contact investigation in Tanzania; exploring TB-associated stigma in Bangladesh; evaluating innovative technologies for TB education and control in Madagascar; and implementing active TB case finding strategies in Mozambique. I serve as a regular consultant for the American Thoracic Society (ATS), World Health Organization (WHO), and the Dutch Tuberculosis Group (KNCV).
Dr. Jennifer Flood is the Chief of the Tuberculosis Control Branch at the California Department of Public Health. She is an infectious disease physician and UCSF Clinical Professor of Medicine and has provided clinical care for patients with TB infection at the San Francisco Department of Public Health TB Clinic for over two decades. In her capacity as state TB controller, Dr. Flood has led the development of a TB elimination plan for California and established the California multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) service.
My current research program is focused on identifying low-cost solutions to measuring antiretroviral levels in resource-poor settings, such as determining drug levels in hair samples, including levels of anti-tuberculosis drugs. I also participate in research efforts on HIV prevention in women. I have an interest at UCSF in HIV education and mentorship. I co-directed the "Communicable Diseases of Global Health Importance" course in the Global Health Sciences Masters program from 2008-2015, and served as the overall Education Director of the HIV, ID and Global Medicine Division.
Dr Eric Goosby was appointed the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Tuberculosis, 2015-2018. As Special Envoy, Dr Goosby worked to raise the profile of the fight against TB and promote the adoption, financing and implementation of the World Health Organization’s global End TB strategy and its international targets for TB prevention, care and control, and focused on establishing the first-ever UN High Level Meeting on TB in 2019. Dr Goosby has dedicated his professional life to tackling global health diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS and TB.
My research interests lie in the epidemiology at the intersection of substance use and infectious diseases. My research team is currently conducting a NIH-funded R01 study to examine changes in alcohol consumption in the course of HIV care in Uganda. We are using novel biomarkers of alcohol consumption to gain objective measurements of alcohol consumption, as well as in-depth interviews to examine reasons for changes in alcohol consumption.
