John Koethe, MD

Dr. Koethe is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University. His research investigates the role of nutrition in modulating the persistent innate and cellular immune activation observed in treated HIV infection, and the relationships between body composition, immune activation, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in HIV-infected persons.  Three focus areas of his current research are (1) the role of GI microbial translocation in immune activation, nutritional rehabilitation, and cardiac function among malnourished HIV-infected adults starting antiretroviral therapy, (2) the contribution of adipose tissue and adipose-resident immune cells to systemic inflammation in HIV-infected persons, and (3) the epidemiology of HIV-related health outcomes and non-communicable diseases among HIV-infected individuals across a range of nutritional states from undernourished to obese. He is the PI of the Adiposity and Immune Activation Cohort study in the United States and a co-investigator in the Nutritional Support for Africans Starting Antiretroviral Therapy (NUSTART) study of nutritional supplementation to improve antiretroviral therapy outcomes in undernourished, HIV-infected adults in Zambia and Tanzania.