Biography
Professor Max O'Donnell is a pulmonologist with a focus on pulmonary infectious diseases. Dr. O'Donnell's research interests center around global health including tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and severe acute respiratory infections. Current research is centered in South Africa and Uganda with training/education and capacity building work in Ethiopia. Important collaborators include the Centre for AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute on TB/HIV (K-RITH), the Jacobs' and Larsen labs at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI).
Key Impacts
Baseline and emergent phenotypic pretomanid resistance in RR/MDR-TB patients in KwaZulu-Natal: Findings from the ADAP-TIV trial
Baseline and treatment-emergent resistance to bedaquiline and pretomanid were identified among patients receiving programmatic treatment for RR/MDR-TB with no prior exposure to these drugs. These results underscore the importance of upfront resistance detection to inform clinical decisions on drug selection and ongoing surveillance for resistance to novel drugs to guide public health responses. Routine, rapid phenotypic drug susceptibility testing for these novel agents is essential, especially in high RR/MDR-TB burden settings.
Source: Conference 2024