Deborah Persaud, MD is Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the pathogenesis of HIV persistence in children and adolescents living with HIV. She has served as the Chair of the HIV Cure Scientific Committee for the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) NIH-sponsored Trials Network, where she oversees the development of clinical trials targeting HIV remission and cure therapeutics for infants, children and adolescents. Her report on the “Mississippi Baby” was the first well-documented case of HIV remission from very early ART that formed the basis for several clinical trials of very early treatment of infants to achieve HIV remission and cure. Dr. Persaud is the Co-PI for the first NIH-funded Pediatric Martin Delaney Collaboratory, the Pediatric Adolescent Virus Elimination (PAVE) MDC, an international collaboratory focused on curing and control HIV without the need for lifelong treatment.
