Mycobacterial Diseases
Open Access

Keertan Dheda

Biography

Keertan Dheda is Associate Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Director of the Lung Infection and Immunity Unit (see website at http://www.lunginstitute.co.za/content/lung_infection.html) within the Division of Pulmonology, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town.
He is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the 2010 International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Scientific Award, the South African MRC Career Development Award, the South African NRF and DST Research Chair Award, and holds several large local and multi-national grants e.g. he is PI of an EU FP7 TBsusgent award of million, and an EDCTP TB-NEAT award of 4.3 million. His main research interests are (i) clinical aspects of MDR & XDR-TB and (ii) the development and validation of field-friendly TB diagnostics. He is also interested in the immunopathogenesis of TB in the human lung and airway-related lung disease. He has established an international collaborative network and a local research program in which 3 Masters and 9 PhD students are currently enrolled.
He has ~75 peer-reviewed publications including first or senior author publications in journals such as the Lancet (IF=31) and AJRCCM (IF=10.8), has a December 2010 ‘H’ index of 18, has several highly cited papers, and his work has been cited 1663 times (as at December 2010). He holds 1 patent related to new TB diagnostic technologies, which is currently being developed as a user-friendly test for extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. He has a keen interest in medical education.
He serves or belongs to several local and international academic societies including Governor for American College of Chest Physicians for the South Africa region, the scientific committee of the TB and Pulmonary Infection group of the American Thoracic Society, and is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.  He serves on the editorial board of the journal PLOS One, and the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
 

Research Interest

Immunopathogenesis, diagnosis, management and outcomes of lung diseases associated with poverty including TB, HIV and pneumonia.
Specific areas of interest and ongoing work:
Pathogenesis, transmission dynamics, and clinical outcomes of MDR-TB and XDR-TB, development and validation of field-friendly diagnostics for TB, immunopathogenesis of pulmonary TB using cells obtained from the lung.