Joint NIMH Center Seminar Series

The Joint NIMH Center Seminar Series is presented weekly by the JH CAHN Administrative Core in partnership with the NIMH and participating centers: 

  • University of California San-Diego HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center
  • Temple University Comprehensive NeuroHIV Center
  • University of Pennsylvania Penn Mental Health AIDS Research Center

Each Wednesday, trainees, junior and senior scientists share their work with colleagues interested in neuro-HIV from across the United States and abroad. Seminars are held virtually on Zoom at 12 p.m. Eastern.

2025 – 2026 Seminar Series

The 2025 – 2026 Series begins Wednesday, September 17, 2025, and ends May 20, 2026. Please sign up for the series – it’s free! You will receive the Zoom link and a weekly email announcement about that week’s speaker and topic. 

Register for the series

Present at a Seminar

We are now scheduling presenters for the 2025-2026 seminar series. Present your neuro-HIV and mental health research, and receive feedback from a global community of colleagues.

  • Speakers are asked to present for approximately 40-45 minutes followed by a moderated, interactive Q&A and discussion
  • Trainees and junior scientists are encouraged to present with a colleague or mentor. 

Visit the seminar calendar to see open dates and reserve your spot to present:

Sign up to present

Spring 2026 Seminar Series Schedule

Date Presentation Title/Topic Speaker(s)
January 21 B Cells at the Blood–Brain Interface: A Legacy of Immune Dysregulation in Treated HIV Infection Paraskevas (Paris) Filippidis, Yale School of Medicine
January 28 Redefining HIV Persistence: The Role of Monocytes and Macrophages as a Latent Reservoir Rebecca Veenhuis, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
February 4 HIV, cannabis use, and macrophage phenotype Jerel Adam Fields, University of California, San Diego
February 11 Exploring the impact of menopause on the immune response to HIV Eileen Scully, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
February 18 Exploring the impact of sex steroid hormones on HIV pathogenesis Jialin Zheng, Tongji University School of Medicine
February 25 NO SEMINAR – CROI 2026
March 4 TBA Marcus Kaul, University of California, Riverside
March 11 TBA Amanda Brown, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
March 18 Neuroimaging of Lyme disease Cherie Marvel, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
March 25 Neurophysiological Markers of Cognitive Impairment in People with HIV Tony Wilson, Boys Town National Research Hospital
April 1 High-Resolution Pan-viral Antibody Profiling and Brain Health in People with HIV Katie Riggs, University of California San Diego
April 8 Nicotine, Exosomes, and Neuroinflammation: Unpacking Microglial Communication Nadine Kabbani, George Mason University
April 15 Persistence of HIV in CD4+ T cells Annie Antar, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
April 22 Cognitive and Neurophysiological Aging in the Context of Chronic Disease and Modifiable Risk Factors, Including Alcohol Use and Obesity Eric Porges, University of Florida
April 29 Talk 1: Increasing NAAG Restores Cognitive Deficit in a Murine Model of HIV
Talk 2: Targeting Gender-Specific Gut Microbiota Improves Social and Cognitive Impairments in EcoHIV-Infected Mice
Meixiang Huang, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Yannan Li, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
May 6 HIV Antiretroviral drugs Induce stress granule formation in differentiating oligodendrocytes Eliana von Krusenstiern, University of Pennsylvania
May 13 Finding Fingerprints in the HIV Proteome: New Tools, New Insights Christina Guzzo, University of Toronto
May 20 TBA Adam Carrico, Florida International University

Past Seminar Recordings

Flipping the Script: Multilevel Mechanisms Linking Methamphetamine Use and HIV | Adam Carrico, Ph.D., A.B.P.P. (5/20/26)

Increasing NAAG Restores Cognitive Deficit in a Murine Model of HIV | Mei Huang, M.D., Ph.D.; Targeting Gender-Specific Gut Microbiota Improves Social and Cognitive Impairments in EcoHIV-Infected Mice | Yannan Li, M.D., Ph.D. (4/29/26)

Evidence for Cortical GABA Stabilization in Cognitively Intact Oldest-Old Adults | Eric Porges, Ph.D. (4/22/26)

Persistence of HIV in CD4+ T cells: Insights from Clonality | Annukka (Annie) Antar, M.D., Ph.D. (4/15/26)

High-Resolution Pan-viral Antibody Profiling and Brain Health in People with HIV | Patricia “Katie” Riggs, D.O. (4/1/26)

Neurophysiological Markers of Elevated Inflammation and Cognitive Impairment in People with HIV | Tony Wilson, Ph.D. (3/25/26)

Neuroimaging of Lyme Disease | Cherie Marvel, Ph.D. (3/18/26)

EphB2-ephrin-B1 Signaling in Microglia and Implications for NeuroHIV | Marcus Kaul, Ph.D. (3/4/26)

Aging, Microglial Glutaminase, and Neurodegenerative Disorders | Jialin C. Zheng, M.D. (2/18/26)

HIV, Cannabis use, and Macrophage Phenotype | Jerel Adam Fields, Ph.D. (2/4/26)

Redefining HIV Persistence: The Role of Monocytes and Macrophages as a Latent Reservoir | Rebecca Veenhuis, Ph.D. (1/28/26)

B Cells at the Blood–Brain Interface: A Legacy of Immune Dysregulation in Treated HIV Infection | Paraskevas (Paris) Filippidis, M.D. (1/21/26)

Does Executive Functioning Training Improve Cognitive Inconsistency and Dispersion in Middle-aged and Older Adults with HIV? | David E. Vance, Ph.D., MGS, FAAN (12/17/25)

Adenosine, Guardian of the Brain: Possible Role in Protecting from HIV Neuropathogenesis | Yoelvis Garcia-Mesa, Ph.D. (12/3/25)

The Intersection of HIV-1 and Extracellular Vesicle Research | Anastasia Williams and Sebastian Molnar (11/12/25)

Leveraging Wearable Technology for Disability Monitoring in People with Neurological Conditions | Kate Fitzgerald (10/29/25)

EcoHIV Infection Facilitates Alzheimer's Disease progression in Mouse Models | Boe-hyun Kim, Ph.D. (10/22/25)

Systems-Level Vulnerabilities in Opioid Use Disorder: Psychosocial, Cognitive, and Neural Correlates | Paul Regier, Ph.D. (10/15/25)

Biological aging, brain imaging and cognitive impairment in persons with HIV | Kalen Petersen, Ph.D. (10/1/25)

Mitochondrial DNA copy number and cognitive impairments among people with and without HIV | Jing Sun, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. (9/24/25)

The Impact of Methamphetamine on Macrophages: Contributions to HIV Neuropathogenesis | Jessica Weiselberg (5/21/25)

Risk of Stroke in Diabetes and HIV Infection: New Therapeutic Targets and Treatment Strategies | Tauheed Ishrat, Ph.D. (5/14/25)

Prevalence and Clinical Significance of CSF Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers | Erin Sundermann, Ph.D. and Lilly Ham (4/30/25)

Can HIV-1 infection affect the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease? | Howard Gendelman, M.D. (4/23/25)

HIV Antiretroviral Drugs Trigger Stress Granule Formation in Differentiating Oligodendrocytes | Eliana Von Krusenstiern (4/16/25)

Novel drug delivery modality to suppress HIV neuropathogenesis | Santosh Kumar, Ph.D. (4/2/25)

Antiretroviral Drugs Differentially Affect Autophagy in Primary Human Astrocytes | Laura Cheney, M.D., Ph.D. (3/19/25)

Beyond the Virus: How ART and Non-ART Drugs Shape Neuropsychiatric Health in people with HIV | Yanxun Xu, Ph.D. and Eero Korpela (3/5/25)

The Last Gift Program: Lessons learned from altruistic participants enrolled in HIV Cure research | Sara Gianella Weibel, M.D. (2/26/25)

Neuroinflammatory Brain Injury in HIV Infection with cART | Marcus Kaul, Ph.D. (2/12/25)

Clinical Trials of Therapy for Brain Health Disorders in Persons with HIV | Scott Letendre, M.D. (2/5/25) 

Understanding Psychosocial and Behavioral Constructs Related to PrEP Interest Among Trans-Masculine People Assigned Female at Birth | Ari Gzesh, MSW, Ph.D. Candidate (1/27/25)

Harnessing Public Multi-omics data to Discover Shared Mechanisms in Neuroinflammation | Carlo Colantuoni, Ph.D. (1/15/25)

Drug Analysis One-Stop Shop: A comprehensive spectra library for drug and metabolites developed with public metabolomics data | Nina Zhao, Ph.D. (1/8/25)

Leveraging Redox Dysregulation to Target Latent HIV Infection| Luca Shytaj, Ph.D. (12/18/24)

Joint Effects of Methamphetamine and HIV on Brain Connectivity | Judith Lobo Ph.D. (12/11/24)

Uncovering a Novel Molecular Therapeutic Target for HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Impairment | Reina Bendayan, Pharm.D., FAAPS, FCSPS, FCAHS (11/20/2024)

The Blood Brain Barrier Demonstrates Capability to Influence Heterogenous Tenofovir and Emtricitabine Metabolism and Transport in the Brain | Hannah Wilkins, M.S., Ph.D. Candidate (11/6/2024)

Giving HAND a Helping Hand: A Role for Neuroimaging | Beau Ances, M.D., Ph.D. (10/23/2024)

Brain Macrophages and Amyloid: 35 years of NeuroHIV Research | Cristian Achim, M.D., Ph.D. (10/16/2024)

Cumulative Burden of Depression and Domain-Specific Cognitive Impairment in the Women's Interagency HIV Study: A Marginal Structural Model Approach | César Higgins Tejera, Ph.D. (9/25/2024)

Suicide Risk Reduction Among People with HIV | Lily Brown, Ph.D. (11/8/23)

miRNA Export, Transport and Uptake via Extracellular Vesicles in Mammalian Cells | Suvendra Bhattacharyya, Ph.D. (11/1/23)

Brain N-acetyl-Aspartyl-Glutamate (NAAG) is Positively Associated with Cognitive Function | Robyn Wiseman, Ph.D. Candidate; Tryptophan-Kynurenine Pathway Activation and Daytime Disruption in Women with HIV | Eran Shorer, M.D. (10/25/23)

October 18, 2023: "Acidic Nanoparticles Prevent HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Inhibition of Oligodendrocyte Maturation" Caela Long, PhD Candidate

October 11, 2023: "Measuring Routine and Behavioral Variability Through Smartphone-based Digital Phenotyping" Ian Barnett, PhD

September 27, 2023: "Proviral Location Affects Virus Production and Immune Recognition of HIV-1–infected T cell Clones" Francesco Simonetti, MD, PhD

April 5, 2023: "Dolutegravir inhibits oligodendrocyte differentiation through activation of the integrated stress response" Marisa Jeffries, PhD and “What have we learnt from the RV254 Thai acute HIV cohort” Philip Chan, PhD

March 22, 2023: "Osteopontin promotes cardiac fibrosis in HIV infection" Jake Robinson

March 8, 2023: "Broadly neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies (bNAb) and the CNS" Lucio Gama, PhD

March 1, 2023: "Human microglia phenotypes in the brain associated with HIV infection" Johannes Schlachetzki, MD

February 8, 2023: “Neurologic post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 preliminary findings and directions for future research” Lindsay McAlpine, MD; and "Single Copy HIV and Neurodegeneration, Oxidative Stress, and Neuroinflammation" Albert Anderson, MD

February 1, 2023: "Why do white matter dysfunction and myelin loss persist in HIV+ individuals despite effective antiretroviral therapy?" Judith Grinspan, PhD

January 18, 2023: "Establishing iPSC derived models to study HIV latency and microglia phenotypes" Sheetal Sreeram

January 11, 2023: “Multimodal MRI evidence of frontostriatal alterations in HIV and aging” Shiva Hassanzadeh-Behbahani, PhD; and “Cerebrospinal fluid virome in ART-treated adult people living with HIV” Mattia Trunfio, PhD Candidate

Progressive Neurocognitive Impairments and Neuronal Injury Resulting From Chronic HIV-1 Viral Protein Exposure

The Self-Serving Side of Astrocytes: It’s All About ME!

Choices in HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis: Today, Tomorrow, and Over-the-Horizon

Mitochondrial Alterations in HIV- and ART-Associated Neurotoxicity

Lysosomal De-acidification by the Antiretroviral Bictegravir Inhibits Oligodendrocyte Maturation

Lentiviral infections persist in brain despite effective antiretroviral therapy and neuroimmune activation