Dona Wickramasinghe, MD

The Manhattan HIV Brain Bank (MHBB), member of the National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC), has been a resource for the neuroAIDS research community since 1998. It performs neurologic, neuropsychological, psychiatric, general medical, and autopsy pathology assessments on a cohort of predominantly HIV-infected individuals, who agree to be organ donors upon demise, for the purposes of neuroAIDS and AIDS research. As a result of MHBB's observational longitudinal study, its tissue and fluids resources are densely annotated, and support a wide range of investigations into HIV-associated central (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) disorders. Dr Wickramasinghe has been perfoming neurological assesments, neuromedical assesments with these patients who are enrolled in the research study to provide help to all of those infected with HIV by supporting diverse translational research projects focused on AIDS pathogenesis. We conduct diverse observational pilot studies to help target and focus research on emerging issues in HIV disease treatment and prevention. As highly active antiretroviral therapies continue to evolve and change the course of HIV infection and treatment, our program generates data that helps focus research priorities.

Our pilot studies have covered a wide variety of topics, including racial and ethnic disparities in HIV manifestations, effects of co-infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV), HIV-associated cognitive impairment, peripheral neuropathy, HIV-associated myelopathy, determinants of antiretroviral adherence, and gender-related differences in AIDS mortality.

Our primary focus is the neurologic, neuropsychologic, psychiatric, and neuropathologic manifestations of HIV infection and HIV-associated co-morbidities. A federally funded program, we conduct a longitudinal, observational study of HIV-infected individuals who have agreed to be fluid and organ donors for the purpose of AIDS research