Robert C. Bollinger, MD, MPH
CRS:
BJMC
Role:
Investigators
Position:
Raj and Kamla Gupta Professor of Infectious Diseases; Director, Center for Clinical Global Health Education; Associate Director, Center for Global Health
Email:
rcb@jhmi.edu
Dr. Bollinger is the Raj and Kamla Gupta Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine, and he holds joint appointments in International Health at the Johns Hopkins (JH) Bloomberg School of Public Health, and in Community Public Health at the JH School of Nursing. He is Founding Director of the Center for Clinical Global Health Education (CCGHE), Associate Director for Medicine of the JH Center for Global Health, and serves on the Advisory Team for the Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center of Excellence for COVID-19. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine and infectious diseases.
Dr. Bollinger has more than 40 years of experience in international public health, clinical research, and education dealing with such global health priorities as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, dengue, antibiotic resistant infections and other emerging diseases. His research interests include identifying biological and behavioral risk factors for HIV transmission; characterizing the clinical progression and treatment of HIV and related infections; development/evaluation of novel point-of-care diagnostics and implementation of research projects to optimize healthcare capacity and delivery in resource-limited settings. Working with partners in more than 20 countries, Dr. Bollinger and CCGHE faculty pioneered the development and use of distance learning and the award-winning emocha mobile health platform. He has been invited to participate in public health training programs and expert committees in more than 15 countries. He is former Director of the JHU Fogarty India Program, and he served as a member of the US Presidential Advisory Council for HIV/AIDS (PACHA), the PACHA International Sub-committee, the Institute of Medicine Forum on Public-Private Partnerships for Global Health and Safety, and the NIH Fogarty International Center Advisory Board.
Dr. Bollinger is committed to improving the health of people living in resource-limited communities through clinical research, education, and leadership training. He established health research and education programs in countries throughout Africa, South and Central America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. In 1991, he initiated an NIH-funded Indo-US HIV research program in Pune, India, involving the National AIDS Research Institute/ICMR and the BJ Government Medical College. He has served as Principal Investigator for many NIH-supported studies and clinical trials in Pune, including the SWEN study, which led to changes in World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for treatment of infants born to HIV positive mothers to prevent mother-to-child transmission. Under his 26 years as leader of the Hopkins India Fogarty International Research Training Program, short-term and degree training has been provided to more than 140 visiting Indian scientists at JHU, and in-country training has been provided to more than 2,000 Indian scientists. His commitment to education has been honored with the Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine David M. Levine Excellence in Mentoring Award.
Dr. Bollinger is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed research publications and 15 book chapters, including the first and largest studies of risk factors for HIV transmission in India, the cloning and sequencing of the first HIV viruses from India, the only studies characterizing the primary immune response to HIV in India, and the demonstration of increased risk of HIV acquisition with recent HSV infection and lack of circumcision.
Dr. Bollinger received an undergraduate degree from Haverford College, a Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School, and a Master of Public Health from JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. He completed his internal medicine training at the University of Maryland Medical Systems, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in infectious diseases at JHU School of Medicine.
.Research Program Building and Leadership
1981-1982 Member, Dartmouth Medical School Admissions Committee, Hanover, NH
1993: Faculty Advisor, Graduate Program in Vaccine Development Evaluation and Policy Track, Center for Immunization Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
1994-1995: Member, Molecular and Clinical Research Council, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine
1999-2000: Member, Review Committee for the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2001: Chair, Hopkins Bioterrorism Clinical Management Working Group Member, Length-of-Stay Committee Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine
2004: Member, Clinical Care Safety and Quality Improvement Committee, Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine
2007: Member, Advisory Committee, Global Health and Foreign Policy Initiative, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
2004-2010: Member, Advisory Board, Johns Hopkins Medicine Point of Care Information Technology (POC-IT) Center
2006, 2011: Member, International Health Review Committee, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
1992-2012: Executive Committee Member, Johns Hopkins University Fogarty International Center Program of International Training Grants in Epidemiology Related to AIDS
2005-2012: Associate Director, Center for Global Health The Johns Hopkins University, Department of Medicine
2008-present: Member, Consortium Working Group, Johns Hopkins, University of Washington, University of California San Francisco, University of Pennsylvania Consortium of Academic Centers Committed to Cross-Disciplinary Global Health Training and Mentorship
2009-present: Member, Infectious Diseases Fellowship Recruitment and Selection Committee, Johns Hopkins University
2011-present: Member, JHU Global mHealth Initiative (GMI), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2012-present: Member, Johns Hopkins InHealth, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2013-present: Member, Faculty Advisory Committee on International Activities (FACIA), Johns Hopkins University
2013-present: Member, Advisory Board of Centro SOL (Salud/Health and Opportunity for Latinos), Johns Hopkins Bayview
2013-2018: Director, miLab Project with imec and miDiagnostics
2014-present: Member, Advisory Board Center for Global Initiatives, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
2017-present: Member, Fogarty African Bioethics Consortium - Post-Doctoral Fellowship (FABC-PDF), Training Advisory Committee, Johns Hopkins International Health