Professor Graeme Meintjes
Affiliations
- Full Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
- Professor of Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT)
- Clinical Professor of Infectious Diseases at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)
- Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa)
Key Expertise
HIV-TB Immunology
Main Research Focus
Graeme Meintjes leads a research programme that focuses on the clinical conditions affecting patients with advanced HIV disease including disseminated HIV-associated tuberculosis, the tuberculosis associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) and cryptococcal meningitis. His group also investigates antiretroviral therapy strategies, drug-resistant tuberculosis and diagnostics for TB, as well as prevention strategies for HIV. He has been the PI or local PI of several clinical trials, and conducts observational cohort studies that address questions related to disease pathogenesis. Graeme was principal investigator (PI) of the EDCTP-funded PredART trial that demonstrated that prednisone was effective and safe for the prevention of TB-IRIS in patients at high-risk starting antiretroviral therapy. He is currently co-PI of the Wellcome-funded NewStrat-TB trial investigating novel treatment strategies in patients admitted to hospital with disseminated HIV-associated TB. He is also Chair of the Trial Steering Committee of the Gates-funded REVIVE trial investigating azithromycin for reducing deaths in people with Advanced HIV Disease across 14 countries in Africa.
He has contributed to the development of management guidelines for HIV, TB and cryptococcal meningitis at a provincial and national level and in WHO (World Health Organization) Guideline Development Groups. He is a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the College of Fellows of UCT, and holds a B1 rating from the National Research Foundation. He has been awarded Training (2007), Intermediate (2012) and Senior (2019) Fellowships by the Wellcome Trust. He is the PI of the Fogarty HIV associated TB Training Program held at UCT in partnership with Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt Universities.
Most Significant Paper Authored in 2024
Meintjes G, Maartens G. (2024).
This was an invited review for the NEJM that covered the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, treatment and complications of HIV-associated TB.