Research and Professional Experience
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 30 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. In 1992, he initiated an ongoing NIH-supported, collaborative Indo-US HIV research program in Pune, with the National AIDS Research Institute/ICMR and the BJ Medical College. In addition to his research collaborations in India, Dr. Bollinger is also engaged in collaborative research projects in Uganda.
Dr. Bollinger is also the Country Director for the Hopkins Fogarty International Programs in India (http://www.jhsph.edu/fogartyaids/), which has provided short-term and degree training to more than 100 visiting scientists at Hopkins, as well as in-country training for more than 2000 scientists, since 1992. Dr. Bollinger is also Director of the Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education (www.ccghe.jhmi.edu) 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, nurses and other health care providers in India, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Uganda and Zambia. The CCGHE has also been a leader in the development and use of distance learning and mHealth technology in resource-limited settings, including eMOCHA, selected as a finalist for the 2010 Vodafone Wireless Innovation Award (http://emocha.org/). The CCGHE has also recently established the Uganda-PEPFAR Distance Learning Initiative, to support the training initiative of PEPFAR partners throughout Uganda. Dr. Bollinger is also Associate Director, representing the School of Medicine, 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 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. He is also engaged in implementation science research projects focused on optimizing strategies to improve health care capacity and care delivery in resource-limited settings, through task-shifting, clinical education, distance learning and mHealth. He has been Principal Investigator of many collaborative NIH-sponsored research studies and clinical trials in Pune, India, including the SWEN Study demonstrating that administration of daily low dose nevirapine to infants can prevent breast milk transmission of HIV. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed 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. He is also Director of a new Global Health Course for Johns Hopkins Medical Students, using live video conferencing links to medical students and faculty around the world. 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, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, India, Japan, Pakistan, Panama, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Tanzania, Thailand and Uganda. He has been a member of the US Presidential Advisory Council for HIV/AIDS (PACHA), where he also served as a member of the PACHA International Sub-committee. He was recently awarded the 2010 Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine David M. Levine Excellence in Mentoring Award. 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.
Selected Publications
Gupta A, Sane S, Gurbani A, Bollinger RC, Mehendale S, Godbole S. Stigmatizing attitudes and low levels of knowledge but high willingness to participate in HIV management: A community based survey of pharmacies in Pune, India. BMC Public Health (In Press)
Patil S, Bhosale R, Sambarey P, Gupte N, Suryavanshi N, Sastry J, Bollinger RC, Gupta A, Shankar A. Impact of maternal Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection on Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes in Pune, India. Indian J Med Res (In Press)
Chang L, Kagaayi J, Nakigozi G, Ssempijja V, Packer A, Serwadda D, Quinn T, Gray R, Bollinger RC, Reynolds S. Effect of peer health workers on AIDS care in Rakai, Uganda: A clustr-randomized Trial. PloS One 2010;5(6)e10923:1-7.
Walshe L, Saple DG, Shah B, Mehta SH, Ramnani JP, Kharkar RD, Bollinger RC, Gupta A. Physician estimate of antiretroviral adherence: Poor correlation with patient self-report and viral load. AIDS Patient Care STDs 2010;24(3):189-195. PMCID: PMC2864050.
Mwandagalirwa K, Jackson EF, McClamroch K, Bollinger RC, Ryder R, Weir S. Local differences in HIV prevalence: a comparison of social venue patrons, antenatal patients, and STI patients in Eastern Kinshasa. Sex Transm Dis 2009; July 36(7):406-412.
Sinha G, Peters DH, Bollinger RC. Strategies for gender-equitable HIV services in rural India. Health Policy Plan 2009; 24(3):197-208.
Moorthy A, Gupta A, Bhosale R, Tripathy S, Sastry J, Kulkarni S, Thakar M, Bharadwaj R, Kagal A, Bhore AV, Patil S, Kulkarni V, Varadharajan V, Balasubramaniam U, Suryavanshi N, Ziemniak C, Gupte N, Bollinger R, Persaud D. Nevirapine resistance and breast-milk HIV transmission: effects of single and extended-dose nevirapine prophylaxis in subtype C HIV-infected infants. PLoS One 2009;4(1):e4096. PMCID: PMC2606064
Chang L, Kagaayi, J, Nakigozi G, Packer A, Serwadda D, Quinn T, Gray R, Bollinger RC, Reynolds S. Responding to the human resource crisis: Peer health workers, mobile phones, and HIV care in Rakai, Uganda. AIDS Patient Care STDs 2008;22(3):173-174.
Gupta A, Anand S, Sastry J, Krisagar A, Basavaraj A, Bhat, SM, Gupte N, Bollinger RC, Kakrani AL. High risk for occupational exposure to HIV and utilization of post-exposure prophylaxis in a teaching hospital in Pune, India. BMC Infect Dis 2008; 8:142. PMCID: PMC2588594
Kulkarni SS, Thakar MR, Brahme RG, Tripathy SP, Mehendale SM, Quinn TM, Bollinger RC, Paranjape RS. Neutralizing antibody responses in recent seroconverters with HIV-1 subtype C infections in India. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 2008; 24(9):1159-1166.
Singh HK, Gupta A, Siberry GK, Gupte N, Sastry J, Kinikar A, Shah I, Gangakhedkar RR, Bollinger RC, Kulkarni V. The Indian pediatric HIV epidemic: a systematic review. Curr HIV Res 2008; 6:419-432.
Ghate M, Deshpande S, Tripathy S, Nene M, Gedam P, Godbole S, Thakar M, Risbud A, Bollinger R, Mehendale S. Incidence of common opportunistic infections in HIV-infected individuals in Pune, India: analysis by stages of immunosuppression represented by CD4 counts. Int J Infect Dis 2008; Jul 2 Epub.
Chang LW, Kagaayi J, Nakigozi G, Galiwango R, Mulamba J, Ludigo J, Ruwangula, Gray RH, Quinn TC, Bollinger RC. Telecommunications and health care: an HIV/AIDS warmline for communication and consultation in Rakai, Uganda. J Int Assoc Physicians AIDS Care 2008; Sept 7(3):130-132 Epub.
Suryavanshi N, Erande A, Pisal H, Shankar AV, Bhosale RA, Bollinger RC, Phadke MA, Sastry J. Repeated pregnancy in HIV positive Indian women with known HIV status. AIDS Care 2008; 20(9):1111-1118.
Six Week Extended-Dose Nevirapine (SWEN) Study Team. Extended-dose nevirapine to 6 weeks of age for infants to prevent HIV transmission via breastfeeding in Ethiopia, India, and Uganda: an analysis of three randomized controlled trials. Lancet 2008; 372(9635):300-313.
Chang LW, Kagaayi J, Gray RH, Bollinger RC, Reynolds SJ. Responding to the human resource crisis: peer health workers, mobile phones, and HIV care in Rakai, Uganda. AIDS Patient Care STDs 2008; 22(3):173-174.
Sinha G, Dyalchand A, Khale M, Kulkarni G, Vasudevan S, Bollinger RC. Low utilization of HIV testing during pregnancy: what are the barriers to HIV testing for women in rural India? J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2008; 47(2):248-252.
Gupta A, Gupte N, Bhosale R, Kakrani A, Kulkarni V, Nayak U, Thakar M, Sastry J, Bollinger RC. Low sensitivity of total lymphocyte count as a surrogate marker to identify antepartum and postpartum Indian women who require antiretroviral therapy. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2007; 46(3):338-342.
Pisal H, Sutar S, Sastry J, Kapadia-Kundu N, Joshi A, Joshi M, Leslie J, Scotti L, Bharucha K, Suryavanshi N, Phadke M, Bollinger RC, Shankar AV. Nurses’ health education program in India increases HIV knowledge and reduces fear. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care 2007; 18(6):32-43.
Gupta A, Gupte N, Sastry J, Bharucha KE, Bhosale R, Kulkarni P, Tripathy S, Nayak U, Phadke M, Bollinger RC. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV among women who chose not to exclusively breastfeed their infants in Pune, India. Indian J Med Res 2007; 126:131-134.
