Campaigns in the war on infectious disease

A total of eight Yale faculty members, CIRA scientists and researchers in St. Petersburg are working together on interventions and studies aimed at slowing the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases.

Russian physicians and scientists trained at Yale and the Medical College of Wisconsin

Roman Dyatlov, Ph.D., returned to St. Petersburg in 1999 and is manager of the popular opinion leader (POL) project that hopes to change the risky behaviors of dormitory residents.

Olga Bordkina, Ph.D., a sociologist, is also working on the POL project and supervises master’s and doctoral programs in HIV/AIDS prevention training.

Juliana Granskaya, Ph.D., a psychologist, is working with colleagues to introduce a system to manage active cases of tuberculosis in inmates immediately upon their release from prison.

Olga Bogoliubova, M.Sc., studies the role of community work in HIV prevention and HIV risks among homeless adolescents.

Yale faculty doing research in Russia

Michael H. Merson, M.D., dean of the School of Public Health, is principal investigator on an interdisciplinary project to train Russian scientists in HIV prevention research methods.

Nadia Abdala, D.V.M., Ph.D., is studying levels of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases among intravenous drug users.

Kaveh Khoshnood, M.P.H. ’89, Ph.D. ’95, is the mentor for many trainees at Yale and project director of the program aimed at keeping inmates involved in tuberculosis treatments after their release from prison.

Robert Heimer, Ph.D., seeks to duplicate in the laboratory the steps commonly used in the manufacture of liquid opiates. Blood is sometimes used, raising the possibility of rampant HIV infection, but Heimer hopes to determine whether the virus survives the manufacturing process.