Dr Keren Middelkoop

Desmond Tutu HIV Centre

Affiliations

  1. Associate Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
  2. Senior Research Officer, clinical and TB Division leader, Desmond Tutu HIV Centre (DTHC), Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation
  3. Clinical and Community HIV-Tuberculosis Research Collaborating Centre

Key Expertise

HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Management of TB, TB-IRIS & TBM, TB, Vaccine Development

Main Research Focus

Keren Middelkoop has been involved in a number of DTHC projects, including clinical trials and public health and epidemiology studies, for over 15 years. For her PhD Keren led a series of community-based studies on the local TB epidemic and the impact of highly active anti-retroviral HIV therapy on community TB. Keren’s work has been recognised internationally. She received the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease’s Young Investigator of the Year award (2011) and won the 2014 AU-TWAS (African Union – The World Academy of Sciences) Young Scientist National Award. She is currently pursuing her interests in TB transmission studies and is a local PI on TB and HIV prevention trials.

Most Significant Paper Authored in 2024

Influence of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength and exercise capacity in South African schoolchildren: secondary outcomes from a randomised controlled trial (ViDiKids).

Middelkoop, Keren & Micklesfield, Lisa & Hemmings, Stephanie & Walker, Neil & Stewart, Justine & Jolliffe, David & Mendham, Amy & Tang, Jonathan & Cooper, Cyrus & Harvey, Nicholas & Wilkinson, Robert & Martineau, Adrian. (2024)

This paper, together with others from this study (Influence of vitamin D supplementation on growth, body composition, pubertal development and spirometry in South African schoolchildren: a randomised controlled trial (ViDiKids)) showed that although a 3yr course of weekly oral vitaminD supplementation elevated serum25(OH)D3concentrations among young school children of predominantly African descent, it had no significant impact on non-TB related outcomes as measured by growth, body composition, pubertal development, muscle strength, exercise capacity, spirometric outcomes (including exercise induced bronchoconstriction), bone mineral content, or bone turnover markers.