The overarching role of the Program in Placental Research is to convene placental scientists and trainees to advance placental science research at Harvard and beyond through collaboration.
The Program in Placental Research is comprised of basic, translational, and clinical researchers from Harvard University and its affiliate hospitals, and 15 other institutions including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Ragon Institute, Boston University Medical Center, University of Toronto, University of Alabama Birmingham, NICHD, University of Cape Town, and Stellenbosch University.
The Program continues to foster interdisciplinary collaboration by leveraging the expertise of its members engaged in basic, translational, clinical and epidemiological research in infectious diseases, obstetrics and gynecology, pathology, immunology, pediatrics, mathematical modeling, laboratory science, reproductive health, epidemiology, and biostatistics. The diverse makeup of the working group highlights the strengths of diverse approaches to placental science in HIV-affected populations and emerging infections.
Director: Lisa Bebell, MD
Dr. Bebell is an Instructor at Harvard Medical School and Assistant in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she attends on the Infectious Disease Consult service. Her HIV-related background and activities include a HU CFAR Development Award (2017-2019) titled “Placental inflammation: A mechanism for poor outcomes in HIV-exposed, uninfected infants”.
This grant supported enrollment of a prospective cohort of 352 pregnant women in Uganda to collect placentas, obstetric and medical history, and determine the prevalence of placental inflammation in WLWH compared to HIV-uninfected comparators.
Dr. Bebell then leveraged results from this CFAR study to secure a Career Development Award from the NIAID (K23AI38856) to enroll a larger cohort of 300 WLWH and 150 HIV-uninfected comparators in Uganda to study associations between placental inflammation and early child health outcomes, including changes in passive immunity neurodevelopment. Simultaneously, a grant from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Burroughs Wellcome Fund will allow Dr. Bebell to enroll 150 HIV-uninfected women taking PrEP to study the effects of PrEP on placental structure, and compare these results and early child health outcomes to participants enrolled in the K23 cohort.