Associate Professor Sean Wasserman

Department of Medicine

Affiliations

  1. Associate Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
  2. Institute for Infection and Immunity, City St George’s, University of London
  3. Wellcome Discovery Research Platforms in Infection, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa)
  4. International Fellow, Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Canada
  5. Honorary Associate Professor, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter; Member, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, University of Exeter

Key Expertise

AIDS; Management of HIV & HIV-associated infections; Management of TB, TB-IRIS & TBM; TB

Main Research Focus

My main research area is treatment optimization for tuberculosis (TB) and HIV-associated opportunistic infection.

I am an investigator on several trials of investigational therapeutic approaches for TB and HIV-associated infection. Current projects that I lead include PRESCIENT, a multi-center Phase 2c trial of a short rifamycin-free regimen for drug-susceptible pulmonary TB (NCT05556746); A5406, an ACTG study evaluating the pharmacokinetics (PK) of double dose dolutegravir with rifapentine-based therapy for HIV-associated TB (NCT05630872); REVIVE, a multi-country Phase 3 trial of azithromycin prophylaxis for advanced HIV (NCT05580666); Rifastrat, a Phase 3 disease-stratified trial evaluating high dose rifampicin for drug[1]susceptible TB; EX-DR, a Phase 3 trial of novel treatment regimens for bedaquiline-resistant TB; and MR907-2501, an industry-sponsored Phase 2 proof of concept trial of adjunctive rezafungin for HIV-associated pneumocystis pneumonia (NCT05835479).

Other activities include observational cohort studies in TB and HIV-associated infections, through which I have established productive collaborations with a multidisciplinary network of local and international scientists. I lead the pharmacology aspects on an NIH-funded study to understand pathogenesis and optimize therapy in TB meningitis using data from clinical trials and rabbit models. I lead the SAMRC funded PROGRESS-TB cohort study investigating programmatic treatment outcomes and resistance emergence for BPaL-based therapy in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa where I have established a successful clinical research site at Nkqubela Hospital. This site participates in the RePORT SA network, for which I am PI.

Most Significant Paper Authored in 2024

Advancing the chemotherapy of tuberculous meningitis: a consensus view.

Wasserman, S., Donovan, J., Kestelyn, E., Watson, J., Aarnoutse, R., Barnacle, J., Boulware, D., Chow, F., Cresswell, F., Davis, A., Figaji, A., Gibb, D., Huynh, J., Imran, D., Marais, S., Meya, D., Misra, U., Modi, M., & Wilkinson, R. (2024).

This article discusses new approaches to treatment for tuberculous meningitis.