Professor Graeme Meintjes MBChB (UCT) FRCP (Glasgow) FCP (SA) DipHIVMan (SA) MPH (Johns Hopkins) PhD (UCT)

Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa)

Selected publications  |  Contact details  |  Group members  |  Collaborations

Professor of Medicine, Second Chair and Deputy Head of the Department of Medicine; DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Poverty-related Infections; Adult Infectious Diseases Physician; Member of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine; and Lead of the Clinical Platform of the Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa (CIDRI-Africa), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town (UCT).

Graeme Meintjes leads a research programme that focuses on the clinical conditions affecting patients with advanced HIV disease including disseminated HIV-associated tuberculosis, the tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) and cryptococcal meningitis. His group also investigates drug-resistant tuberculosis and diagnostics for TB. He has been the PI or local PI of several clinical trials and conducts observational cohort studies that address questions related to disease pathogenesis. Recently, he was PI of the EDCTP-funded PredART trial that demonstrated that prednisone was effective and safe for the prevention of TB-IRIS in patients at high-risk starting ART, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018. He has contributed to the development of management guidelines for HIV, TB and cryptococcal meningitis at a provincial and national level and in WHO Guideline Development Groups. He is a Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the College of Fellows of UCT, and holds a B1 rating from the National Research Foundation. He has been awarded Training (2007), Intermediate (2012) and Senior (2019) Fellowships by the Wellcome Trust. He undertakes clinical work as a Specialist at Groote Schuur Hospital and Khayelitsha Hospital, and co-ordinates in the undergraduate teaching programme of the Department of Medicine.

Funding

1. Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Awarded 2013-2017.  Title: "Defining interventions to reduce mortality in severe HIV-associated TB". Role: Personal fellowship.
2. South African DST/ National Research Foundation SARChI Chair in Lung Infection and Immunity in Poverty-Related Diseases at UCT (Grant 64787). Awarded for 4 years (2015-2018).
3. South African Medical Research Council TB-HIV Collaborating Centre: Clinical and Community HIV-TB Research Collaborating Centre (C2HTB) at UCT. Role: Principal Investigator/Director. Awarded for 3 years (2015-2017).
4. NIH/FIC. 1D71TW009760-01. Title: HIV associated tuberculosis training program. Awarded 2014-2016. Role: Principal Investigator for this planning grant.
5. NIH/NIAID. 1R01AI114304-01A1. Title: Safety, pharmacokinetics, and resistance to bedaquiline in XDR TB and HIV. Awarded 2015-2020. Role: South African PI.
6. National Research Foundation rating funding awarded in 2013 for 6 years (B2 rating).

Selected publications:

Meintjes G, Stek C, Blumenthal L, Thienemann F, Schutz C, Buyze J, Ravinetto R, van Loen H, Nair A, Jackson A, Colebunders R, Maartens G, Wilkinson RJ, Lynen L; PredART Trial Team. Prednisone for the Prevention of Paradoxical Tuberculosis-Associated IRIS. N Engl J Med. 2018 Nov 15;379(20):1915-1925.

Meintjes G, Lawn SD, Scano F, Maartens G, French MA, Worodria W, Elliott JH, Murdoch D, Wilkinson RJ, Seyler C, John L, van der Loeff MS, Reiss P, Lynen L, Janoff EN, Gilks C, Colebunders R; International Network for the Study of HIV-associated IRIS. Tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome: case definitions for use in resource-limited settings. Lancet Infect Dis. 2008;8(8):516-23.

Meintjes G, Wilkinson RJ, Morroni C, Pepper DJ, Rebe K, Rangaka MX, Oni T, Maartens G. Randomized placebo-controlled trial of prednisone for paradoxical TB-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome. AIDS. 2010;24(15):2381-90.

Meintjes G, Wilkinson KA, Rangaka MX, Skolimowska K, van Veen K, Abrahams M, Seldon R, Pepper DJ, Rebe K, Mouton P, van Cutsem G, Nicol MP, Maartens G, Wilkinson RJ. Type 1 helper T cells and FoxP3-positive T cells in HIV-tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008;178(10):1083-9.

Lawn SD, Kerkhoff AD, Burton R, Schutz C, van Wyk G, Vogt M, Pahlana P, Nicol MP, Meintjes G. Rapid microbiological screening for tuberculosis in HIV-positive patients on the first day of acute hospital admission by systematic testing of urine samples using Xpert MTB/RIF: a prospective cohort in SA. BMC Med 2015;13:192.

Boulware DR, Meya DB, Muzoora C, Rolfes MA, Huppler Hullsiek K, Musubire A, Taseera K, Nabeta HW, Schutz C, Williams DA, Rajasingham R, Rhein J, Thienemann F, Lo MW, Nielsen K, Bergemann TL, Kambugu A, Manabe YC, Janoff EN, Bohjanen PR, Meintjes G; COAT Trial Team. Timing of antiretroviral therapy after diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis. N Engl J Med. 2014 Jun 26;370(26):2487-98.

Lai RP, Meintjes G, Wilkinson KA, Graham CM, Marais S, Van der Plas H, Deffur A, Schutz C, Bloom C, Munagala I, Anguiano E, Goliath R, Maartens G, Banchereau J, Chaussabel D, O'Garra A, Wilkinson RJ. HIV-tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome is characterized by Toll-like receptor and inflammasome signalling. Nat Commun. 2015 Sep 24;6:8451.

Contact details:

Clinical Infectious Diseases Research Initiative
Room WBN 2.09.5
Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine
UCT Faculty of Health Sciences
Observatory 7925

Tel:  +27 21 406 6075
Fax: +27 21 406 6796
Email: graeme.meintjes@uct.ac.za 

Alternate sites: www.cidri.uct.ac.za
https://www.predart.org/site/index

Group Members:

Collaborations:

Tom Harrison (St George's Hospital, London, UK)

Joseph Jarvis (London School of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, UK)

David Boulware (University of Minnesota, US)

David Meya (Makerere University, Uganda)

Conrad Muzoora (Mbarara University, Uganda)

Anne O'Garra (National Institute of Medical Research, London, UK)

Lut Lynen (Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium)

James Brust (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, US)

Neel Gandhi (Emory University, US)

David Barr (University of Liverpool, UK)

* Only collaborators outside UCT are listed