John Koethe, MD, MSCI

Dr. Koethe is a physician-scientist pursuing clinical and translational research on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in persons living with HIV (PLWH). He came to Vanderbilt University as an infectious diseases fellow in 2007 and joined the faculty in 2010. He first gained HIV/AIDS research experience as a NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellow in Lusaka, Zambia, followed by training in clinical research study design, methods, and biostatistics from the Vanderbilt Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation program. He previously led a large cohort study which highlighted the cardiometabolic health consequences of obesity in PLWH, and novel associations between body composition, plasma metabolite profiles, cellular and innate immune activation, and vascular function. He is currently studying the relationship of circulating T cell subsets and diabetes risk among HIV+ and HIV-negative participants in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS). He also leads the R01-supported HIV, Adipose Tissue Immunology, and Metabolism cohort study to explore relationships between adipose tissue T cell phenotypes, receptor clonality and cytokine expression, adipose tissue inflammation, and glucose tolerance in PLWH. Dr. Koethe has a strong commitment to the career development of junior investigators in the field of HIV research. In addition to serving as a V-SCHoLARS Program Director, he is the Director of the Developmental Core of the Tennessee Center for AIDS Research (TN-CFAR), which is responsible for administering pilot grant awards, and mentoring young investigators and those new to HIV research.