# Mentoring Investigators in HIV and Tuberculosis Therapeutics Research

> **NIH NIH K24** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $181,331

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Tuberculosis (TB) is now the leading infectious cause of death globally, and it remains the #1 cause of
death among people living with HIV (PLWH). The first-line regimen is long and burdensome to patients
and programs, and drug-resistant TB typically requires treatment for 1-2 years with drugs that can cause
severe or irreversible toxicities. The TB drug development pipeline is now robust, providing reason for
optimism. To optimize current and new drugs, though, we must employ state-of-the-art drug
development approaches (including best use of quantitative pharmacology), and it is imperative that new
drugs or regimens be developed so that they can be used in all patients that may benefit from them,
including PLWH, children, and pregnant women. Critical challenges and opportunities lie in using
clinically pharmacology as a tool more effectively in TB and HIV therapeutics research, across the drug
development and optimization spectrum. This is the context for this application for a K24 Mid-Career
Development Award for Kelly Dooley, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology, &
Molecular Sciences in the Divisions of Clinical Pharmacology and Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins
University, to provide protected time to mentor trainees in patient-oriented research in TB and HIV
therapeutics. Dr. Dooley is one of the few Infectious Diseases specialists with training in Clinical
Pharmacology working in the TB therapeutics field. She is a globally-recognized leader in TB and HIV-
associated TB treatment research and has mentored (and is mentoring) multiple trainees in the field.
Through the multiple independently-funded studies she is leading as well as those she is directing in her
capacity as a member of the TB scientific leadership committees of the ACTG, TBTC, and IMPAACT
networks, she is in a position to provide excellent opportunities to train the next generation of clinical
researchers in patient-oriented research in TB and HIV. In addition, this K24 will allow her to expand her
own knowledge in several key areas: quantitative pharmacology approaches, as applied to design and
analysis in clinical trials of TB or TB-HIV treatment; biomarkers identification and use as well as
understanding of drug delivery to hard-to-access compartments, for example in tuberculous meningitis;
and a new area of critical unmet medical need, the treatment of nontuberculous mycobacteria (in
patients with and without HIV). This K24 will allow Dr. Dooley to have the protected time to train the next
generation of investigators in clinical pharmacology and clinical research, as applied to TB and HIV-
associated TB, a critical shortage area; expand quantitative approaches in TB therapeutics work; and
explore new areas of investigation. The protected time afforded by this award is essential to Dr. Dooley
achieving these goals.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9926650
- **Project number:** 1K24AI150349-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelly E. Dooley
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $181,331
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-02-21 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9926650

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9926650, Mentoring Investigators in HIV and Tuberculosis Therapeutics Research (1K24AI150349-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9926650. Licensed CC0.

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