We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Ghady Haidar, MD, to the role of Medical Director of the Translational Research Unit (TRU) of the Division of Infectious Diseases, effective today, April 18, 2024. Dr. Haidar joined the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC nearly 10 years ago, first as a fellow, then as an Assistant Professor and member of the Transplant ID Faculty in 2017. He was appointed as Program Director of the Transplant ID Fellowship in 2019 and Director of Research for the Hematologic Malignancy ID Program in 2021.

The TRU is the ID Division’s non-HIV clinical and translational research program, with than 100 research protocols in its portfolio. Key areas of focus for the TRU include drug-resistant pathogens, novel diagnostics, PK and PD of novel antimicrobials, bacteriophages, and treatment and prevention of infection in immunocompromised hosts. The TRU consists of several investigators, research coordinators, laboratory specialists, data analysts, and administrators with expertise in the regulatory and budgetary aspect of studies. Collectively, the TRU has a strong record of implementing pilot protocols, phase I, II, III clinical trials, and observational studies, with unique expertise in “bench to bedside” infectious disease research. The TRU also provides infrastructure for access to therapies that are only available through the FDA’s expanded access and emergency use investigational new drug pathways, thereby providing the most vulnerable patients with potentially life-saving investigational therapies, such as bacteriophages, allogeneic T-cells for refractory viral infections, and others.

Dr. Haidar is an NIH-funded clinical and translational physician-scientist studying difficult-to-treat infections in immunocompromised hosts. He is currently PI for a K23 award from NIAID focused on transplant recipients with drug-resistant organisms and PI for a Cystic Fibrosis-foundation (CF)-funded pilot trial of bacteriophage therapy among persons with CF, which he will implement in his role as Chair of the Clinical Trials Unit of the Pittsburgh Phage Program. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led multidisciplinary teams of dedicated researchers and personnel to successfully execute several large institution and industry-sponsored cohort studies, which advanced the field of COVID-19 by defining the course of protracted SARS-CoV-2 infection in immunocompromised patients, the varying immunogenicity of COVID- 19 vaccines across the spectrum of immunodeficiency, and the role of monoclonal antibodies for COVID- 19 prevention in immunocompromised hosts.

Dr. Haidar will work with Dr. Kailey Hughes-Kramer, MPH PhD, Director of the TRU, and the TRU investigators to provide oversight of the research activities at the TRU and the day-to-day operations including budgets, staffing, regulatory, and data activities.

Congratulations, Ghady!