Benjamin Chimukangara
Country (Nationality)
South Africa
Grantee Title
Pneumocystis, HIV-related opportunistic infections
Grantee Description
Dr. Chimukangara will spend his fellowship at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (NIH Clinical Center) under the mentorship of Joseph Kovacs, MD. His research will focus on understanding host-pathogen interactions in HIV and Pneumocystis infections. He will also focus on understanding viral dynamics in HIV-1 persistence and drug resistance through a collaborative network with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the mentorship of Frank Maldarelli, PhD. Dr. Chimukangara received a PhD in Virology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. His PhD work demonstrated the first evidence of high-levels of HIV-1 drug resistance among adults that have not initiated life-long HIV treatment in South Africa, supporting the decision for the country’s HIV treatment program (the largest HIV treatment program globally) to transition to more potent HIV drugs. He is a Lecturer in the School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences at University of KwaZulu-Natal and a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), specialising in HIV-1 genotyping for research and clinical management, and large-scale data analysis in molecular virology.