Professor Deenan Pillay

UCL Pro-Vice-Provost International
Professor of Virology

About

Professor Deenan Pillay's work at UCL focusses on clinical, population and laboratory based studies to limit the spread of HIV.

Research summary

Professor Deenan Pillay's research addresses the continuing challenge of HIV spread, particularly in sub- Saharan Africa. In 2013 he was seconded to become Director of the Africa Centre for Population Health, in South Africa, and in 2016 became the inaugural Executive Director of the Africa Heath Research Institute, a Wellcome Trust and HHMI funded cross disciplinary HIV and TB research institute in Kwa Zulu-Natal. He has held a number of other senior scientific roles, including Head of the Division of Infection and Immunity at UCL, and Director of the UCLH/UCL NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. In February 2020 Professor Pillay began his three-year term as UCL Pro-Vice-Provost International in UCL's Global Engagement Office.

Selected publications

• Tanser F, Vandormael A, Cuadros D, Phillips AN, de Oliveira T, Tomita A, Bärnighausen T, Pillay D. Effect of population viral load on prospective HIV incidence in a hyperendemic rural African community. Sci Transl Med. 2017;9
• Haber N, Tanser F, Bor J, Naidu K, Mutevedzi T, Herbst K, Porter K, Pillay D, Bärnighausen T. From HIV infection to therapeutic response: a population-based longitudinal HIV cascade-of-care study in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Lancet HIV. 2017;e223-e230
• Gupta RK, Gregson J, Parkin N, Haile-Selassie H, Tanuri A, Andrade Forero L, Kaleebu P, Watera C, Aghokeng A, Mutenda N, Dzangare J, Hone S, Hang ZZ, Garcia J, Garcia Z, Marchorro P, Beteta E, Giron A, Hamers R, Inzaule S, Frenkel LM, Chung MH, de Oliveira T, Pillay D, Naidoo K, Kharsany A, Kugathasan R, Cutino T, Hunt G, Avila Rios S, Doherty M, Jordan MR, Bertagnolio S. HIV-1 drug resistance before initiation or re-initiation of first-line antiretroviral therapy in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Lancet Infect Dis. 2018;18:346-355
• Iwuji CC, Orne-Gliemann J, Larmarange J, Balestre E, Thiebaut R, Tanser F, Okesola N, Makowa T, Dreyer J, Herbst K, McGrath N, Bärnighausen T, Boyer S, De Oliveira T, Rekacewicz C, Bazin B, Newell ML, Pillay D, Dabis F; ANRS 12249 TasP Study Group. Universal test and treat and the HIV epidemic in rural South Africa: a phase 4, open-label, community cluster randomised trial. Lancet HIV. 2018;5:e116-e125
• Vandormael A, Bärnighausen T, Herbeck J, Tomita A, Phillips A, Pillay D, de Oliveira T, Tanser F. Longitudinal trends in the prevalence of detectable HIV viremia: Population-based evidence from rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Clin Infect Dis. 2017 [Epub ahead of print]
• Bor J, Fox MP, Rosen S, Venkataramani A, Tanser F, Pillay D, Bärnighausen T. Treatment eligibility and retention in clinical HIV care: A regression discontinuity study in South Africa. PLoS Med. 2017;14:e1002463
• Phillips AN, Cambiano V, Nakagawa F, Revill P, Jordan MR, Hallett TB, Doherty M, De Luca A, Lundgren JD, Mhangara M, Apollo T, Mellors J, Nichols B, Parikh U, Pillay D, Rinke de Wit T, Sigaloff K, Havlir D, Kuritzkes DR, Pozniak A, van de Vijver D, Vitoria M, Wainberg MA, Raizes E, Bertagnolio S; Working Group on Modelling Potential Responses to High Levels of Pre-ART Drug Resistance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cost-effectiveness of public-health policy options in the presence of pretreatment NNRTI drug resistance in sub-Saharan Africa: a modelling study. Lancet HIV. 2018;5:e146-e154
• Bor J, Chiu C, Ahmed S, Katz I, Fox M, Rosen S, Yapa M, Tanser F, Pillay D, Bärnighausen T. Failure to initiate HIV treatment in patients with high CD4 counts: evidence from demographic surveillance in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Trop Med Int Health. 2018;23:206-220
• Plazy M, Perriat D, Gumede D, Boyer S, Pillay D, Dabis F, Seeley J, Orne-Gliemann J. Implementing universal HIV treatment in a high HIV prevalence and rural South African setting - Field experiences and recommendations of health care providers. PLoS One. 2017;12:e0186883
• Ekoru K, Murphy GAV, Young EH, Delisle H, Jerome CS, Assah F, Longo-Mbenza B, Nzambi JPD, On'Kin JBK, Buntix F, Muyer MC, Christensen DL, Wesseh CS, Sabir A, Okafor C, Gezawa ID, Puepet F, Enang O, Raimi T, Ohwovoriole E, Oladapo OO, Bovet P, Mollentze W, Unwin N, Gray WK, Walker R, Agoudavi K, Siziya S, Chifamba J, Njelekela M, Fourie CM, Kruger S, Schutte AE, Walsh C, Gareta D, Kamali A, Seeley J, Norris SA, Crowther NJ, Pillay D, Kaleebu P, Motala AA, Sandhu MS. Deriving an optimal threshold of waist circumference for detecting cardiometabolic risk in sub-Saharan Africa. Int J Obes (Lond). 2017
• Zhukova A, Cutino-Moguel T, Gascuel O, Pillay D. The Role of Phylogenetics as a Tool to Predict the Spread of Resistance. J Infect Dis. 2017;216(suppl_9):S820-S823
• Godfrey C, Thigpen MC, Crawford KW, Jean-Phillippe P, Pillay D, Persaud D, Kuritzkes DR, Wainberg M, Raizes E, Fitzgibbon J. Global HIV Antiretroviral Drug Resistance: A Perspective and Report of a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Consultation. J Infect Dis. 2017;216(suppl_9):S798-S800.