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I am trained as both an Infectious Disease specialist and as an expert in innate defense against bacterial infection, with a focus on Gram-negative organisms.  As an Infectious Disease specialist, I am particularly interested in treatment approaches to multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections.  As a researcher, I study the innate defenses against these types of infections.  In one project, I study the Bactericidal/Permeability-Increasing protein (BPI) - an endogenous antibiotic found in neutrophils and available in recombinant form. BPI has potent activity against Gram-negative bacteria, including multidrug-resistant clinical isolates I collect.

I have also studied emerging infections, such as chikungunya, Zika and seasonal influenza. I was engaged in two NIH-sponsored clinical trials for the treatment of seasonal influenza with immune plasma and triple therapy (ribivirin, oseltamivir and amantadine). I was the Principal Investigator for UF site of the NIH-sponsored Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trials (ACTT), which identified remdesivir and baricitinib as important agents for the treatment of COVID patients. Most recently, I am the Principal Investigator for the UF site of the STOMP monkeypox clinical trial, and for the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines clinical trials (ACTIV4a and ACTIV4d).