Interview with

Dr. N. Kumarasamy

HIV COVID Talks

Interview with  N.Kumarasamy MBBS,FRCP,PhD

Chief & Director, VHS-Infectious Diseases Medical Centre, Head of Dept-VHS COVID19 Treatment and Vaccination Centre at Voluntary Health Services and Director, Chennai Antiviral Research and Treatment (CART) Clinical Research Site

Clinician and a researcher in Infectious disease with more than 25 yrs of experience, Dr. Kumarasamy has published more than 400 manuscripts in peer-reviewed medical journals. He has conducted several landmark Antiretroviral clinical trials which had impacted Treatment Guidelines. His publications on the Impact of Antiretroviral therapy have led to several Antiretroviral scale-up programs in developing countries. He is an advisor and expert panel member for World Health Organization – ARV Treatment Guidelines Committee and a Clinical advisor to Clinton Health Access Initiative. Currently, he is the Regional Representative for Asia for ACTG/NIH. He has a particular interest on the long-term impact of Antiretroviral Therapy in resource-limited settings.

Dr.Kumarasamy is the Head of the Department of VHS COVID19 Treatment and Vaccination Centre. He is serving as a member of the COVID19 National Task Force for Clinical Research and Drug Development. Dr.Kumarasamy ranks in the top 2% of scientists worldwide in the field of Virology.

Transcriptions

Upcoming

Thank you for your patience. Written transcriptions will be posted in the coming weeks.

Highlights

HIV COVID  India

Dr. Kumarasamy will speak to the challenges of COVID in India as relates to his HIV experience and research. Including the available vaccines, treatment, and strategies being used in India. For example, he reports that 38.4% of eligible adults in India are vaccinated.

He is the Chief & Director of Infectious Diseases Medical Centre at Voluntary Health Services (VHS) Hospital in Chennai and directs the clinic which provides medical care for persons with HIV, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, COVID19 and other Infectious Diseases in Chennai, Southern India.

Dr.Kumarasamy is the Director and Site Leader for the Chennai Antiviral Research and Treatment (CART) Clinical Research Site of US National Institutes of Health which conducts multisite Therapeutics (ACTG), prevention (HPTN) and INSIGHT clinical trials. He is involved as Clinical Investigator for several on- going clinical research projects with University of California-San Diego, Brown University- Providence , Harvard University-Boston, USA and University of New South Wales/Kirby Institute -Sydney, Australia.

Dr Lynda Sagrestano

Interviewer Dr. Lynda Sagrestano

 Dr. Lynda Sagrestano is a social science researcher with experience working with clinical trials community members.

Her experience as an applied social, community, and health psychologist with over 25 years of experience conducting community-based research, needs assessments, and program evaluations.  Her experience in the areas of intercultural communication, mentoring and team building  and her extensive public speaking and meeting facilitation experience on community-related issues both online and in-person will help guide a well-facilitated discussion

Chennai, India

Dr. N. Kumarasamy

Director of Infectious Diseases and Leader in Clinical Research