Preventive Medicine & Community Health
Tuberculosis Epidemiology,
Surveillance and Training
NJMS Departments of Preventive Medicine &
SPH Department of Quantitative Methods
Faculty
Amy Davidow, Ph.D. davidoal@umdnj.edu
Soyeon Kim, ScD kim20@umdnj.edu
Marian Passannante, Ph.D. passanna@umdnj.edu
Lee B. Reichman, M.D. reichmlb@umdnj.edu
Anushua Sinha, MD, MPH sinhaan1@umdnj.edu
Bonita Mangura, M.D., mangurbt@umdnj.edu
Mission
Faculty work with colleagues at the New Jersey Medical School - Global TB Institute http://www.umdnj.edu/globaltb/home.htm on a variety of research, service and training projects. We seek to:
- identify ways to reduce tuberculosis morbidity and mortality in the United States;
- understand the epidemiology of tuberculosis locally, nationally and internationally;
- identify way to improve treatment completion;
- collaborate with bench scientists on promising new methods of estimating prevalence of M. tuberculosis infection and improved diagnosis of active disease and
- train TB control staff to use epidemiologic methods in TB control activities.
Research Projects
Tuberculosis testing in a multi-ethnic inner city population of high-risk pregnant women. (Principal investigators, A. Davidow and A. Sinha). This study is comparing tuberculin skin testing with interferon gamma release assays in women initiating pre-natal care at University Obstetrics/Gynecology Associates (UOA). Comparative effectiveness modeling of the two testing modalities is also being conducted. Study co-investigators include Drs. A Bardeguez, L Gittens-Williams, D. Zilberman from Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health, and Dr. P. Adem from Pathology. The study is funded by the Foundation of UMDNJ.
TB Epidemiologic Studies Consortium (A Davidow, LB Reichman). This is a 22 site national consortium of academic institutions and health departments funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Recently completed studies include:
- Enhanced surveillance to identify missed opportunities for prevention of tuberculosis in the foreign-born (Principal Investigator A. Davidow)
- The current cost of TB within urban United States (Principal Investigator A. Sinha)
- Prospective evaluation of immunogenetic and immunologic markers for susceptibility to tuberculosis infection and progression from M. tuberculosis infection to active TB. (Principal Investigator B. Mangura, Dept. of Medicine)
- Factors associated with acceptance of, adherence to and toxicity from treatment for latent tuberculosis infection (TLTBI) and pilot study of TLTBI effectiveness: phases 1 and 2 (Principal Investigator A. Davidow)
- A national genotyping registry for a molecular epidemiological analysis of multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis, (Principal Investigator A. Davidow)
US-Brazil Research Collaboration on Strain Variation in TB; and
US Brazil Collaboration on Immunity and Biomarkers in Tuberculosis
Dr Kim, along with colleagues in the Department of Medicine, collaborates with researchers at Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil and Boston University to study strain variation in TB and biomarkers to assist in developing new approaches and modalities for the prevention and management of TB.
Small Membrane Filtration (SMF) Method to Improve the Performance of Smear Microscopy for the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a High HIV Prevalence Setting
Dr Kim collaborates with researchers at Epicentre Mbarara Research Base, University of Florida and Boston University to study a method of diagnosing TB that promises to have high sensitivity among HIV-infected individuals.
A Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Trial To Determine The Efficacy Of Isoniazid (INH) In Preventing Tuberculosis Disease And Latent Tuberculosis Infection Among Infants with Perinatal Exposure To HIV
Dr Kim continues to work with the IMPAACT network on secondary analyses of data from this clinical trial.
Analysis of these studies is on-going.
TB Surveillance Activities (M. Passannante)
Develop community profiles for selected New Jersey counties using TB surveillance data in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. This activity is funded through the NJMS Global TB Institute.
TB Education and Training Activities (M. Passannante)
Onsite and webinar training in epidemiology for TB Control Staff in the Northeastern region of the US is offered through the NJMS Global TB Institute.
Incorporating Tuberculosis into Public Health Core Curricula
The New Jersey Medical School Global Tuberculosis Institute, one of four Regional Training and Medical Consultation Centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has developed TB-related teaching materials for use in core courses of MPH programs, using the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) core competencies for public health disciplines and interdisciplinary domains. The materials include a series of TB-related case studies, fact sheets and PowerPoint presentations. They were developed for use in core courses in the disciplines of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Environmental Health Sciences, Health Policy and Management, and Social and Behavioral Sciences and to illustrate the cross-cutting domains of Communications and Informatics, Diversity and Culture, Program Planning and Public Health Biology. These materials do not require that instructors have prior knowledge of TB. Material may be accessed at http://www.umdnj.edu/ntbc/products/incorporating.html.
Opportunities for students and volunteers
The NJMS Global TB Institute is a fieldwork site for UMDNJ SPH students.
Links to other web sites:
- NJMS Global TB Institute http://www.umdnj.edu/globaltb/home.htm
- CDC http://www.cdc.gov/TB/
- International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease http://www.theunion.org/
Date revised: November 2011