Robert C. Bollinger

Robert C. Bollinger MD. MPH is a Professor of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Department of International Health of the Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has more than 27 years of experience in international public health, clinical research and education in a broad range of global health priorities including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy and emerging infections. His initial experience in public health in India was in 1979 and included field work with a leprosy control project in rural Bihar. Over the past 14 years, he has initiated and conducted a large collaborative Indo-US HIV research program in Pune, with the National AIDS Research Institute/ICMR and the BJ Medical College. His ongoing public health research, includes additional collaborative projects in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Dr. Bollinger is also the Country Director for the Hopkins Fogarty International Programs in India and DRC, which has provided short-term and degree public health training to more than 80 visiting scientists at Hopkins, as well as in-country training for more than 2000 scientists, since 1992. Dr. Bollinger is Director of the recently established Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education which develops and provides clinical education to health care providers in resource limited settings around the world. Under Dr. Bollinger's leadership, the CCGHE is currently undertaking and establishing public health and clinical educational programs for physicians and nurses in India, Ethiopia, Zambia, Uganda and Panama. Dr. Bollinger is also Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health, which coordinates all international health education and research at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Bollinger's research interests include characterization of the cellular immune response to recent HIV infection, identification of the biological and behavioral risk factors for HIV transmission, as well as the characterization of the clinical progression and treatment of HIV infection and related infections, in resource-limited settings. He currently directs 4 collaborative NIH-sponsored clinical trials in Pune, India, including a Phase III randomized clinical trial to determine if anti-retroviral therapy can prevent HIV transmission among HIV-discordant sexual partners (HPTN 052 Trial), a Phase III randomized clinical trial comparing two different HAART regimens for treatment of HIV patients with low CD4 counts (ACTG 5175 Trial), a Phase III randomized clinical trial to compare two different regimens of infant nevirapine for prevention of breast-milk transmission of HIV (1R01-AI45462), and a Phase II clinical trial investigating the safety and acceptability vaginal microbicide 1% Tenofovir Gel (HPTN 059 Trial). He has published more than 80 research publications and 13 book chapters, including the first and largest studies of the risk factors for HIV transmission in India, the cloning and sequencing of the first HIV viruses from India, the only studies characterizing the primary immune response to HIV in India, and the demonstration of the increased risk HIV acquisition associated with recent HSV infection and lack of circumcision.

Dr. Bollinger is also an active clinician/educator, who provides and supervises HIV and infectious diseases clinical care, in the outpatient and in-patient settings at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In addition to his teaching, research and clinical responsibilities, Dr. Bollinger has contributed to many public health training programs, expert committees and consultations in the US, Botswana, Brazil, India, Japan, Pakistan, Panama, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Uganda, including a recent appointment to the US Presidential Advisory Council for HIV/AIDS (PACHA), where he also serves as a member of the PACHA International Sub-committee. Dr. Bollinger received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Chemistry from Haverford College, his Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School and his Masters in Public Health from the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases from the American Board of Internal Medicine, having received internal medicine training at the University of Maryland Medical Systems and a Post-doctoral Fellowship in Infectious Diseases from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Bollinger has been on the faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Public Health since 1992.