About

As an infectious disease physician, Dr. Dennis is skilled in HIV clinical management lending my research practical clinical grounding and relevance. Her research bridges basic, clinical, and epidemiologic science by using HIV-1 molecular epidemiology and phylogenetics to understand HIV transmission on a population level and use this information to direct prevention. Her research interests focus on the prevention of local HIV transmission, through understanding HIV transmission dynamics using nucleotide sequences, and computational and statistical techniques integrated with traditional epidemiologic and clinical data. HIV epidemics are composed of overlapping sub-epidemics defined by risk groups, geography, social interaction, and time. Her research goal is to uncover the links between these sub-epidemics to facilitate the design of timely, effective interventions. Research areas include monitoring and response to HIV transmission networks; HIV epidemiology and care among gender and racial minority groups, antiretroviral drug resistance, HIV outbreak investigations and partner contact tracing, detection and response to early HIV infection, and social recruitment methods to facilitate partner services.

In the news

• 

  STI/HIV Fellow Explores Molecular Clusters, Sexual Networks to Improve HIV and STI Prevention

  Briefly summarize your background and interests, and how you came to the Institute. I originally trained as a biomedical engineer and gained experience with in-host modeling of influenza during my Master’s degree at the University of Virginia. I was interested in continuing to work on infectious disease modeling, but wanted to move into the public … Read more

• 

  Perspectives from HIV Service Providers Inform Implementation of Enhanced Social Network Strategy for Black Sexual and Gender Minorities

  The CDC’s Social Network Strategy (SNS) is an evidence-supported approach to increase reach for HIV testing among members of marginalized populations. Carol Golin, MD, and Ann M. Dennis, MD, MS, explored key barriers and facilitators prior to implementing an enhanced SNS (eSNS) to increase access to a broader range of HIV prevention and treatment services. Guided … Read more

• 

  Dennis Begins Implementation Phase of the RESPOND Carolinas Study

  Ann Dennis, MD, MS, a member of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Disease (IGHID) and associate professor of medicine, focuses on the clinical and epidemiologic aspects of HIV/AIDS, particularly among minority and immigrant populations. Dennis will soon be starting the implementation phase of the RESPOND Carolinas study, to improve HIV care and prevention in … Read more

• 

  Some of the Many Faces of HIV Research: Treatment, Prevention and Pursuing a Cure

  HIV virus eradication is a complex health challenge due to its long-lived persistence and how it hides in latently infected cells that escape the body’s immune system. Effective HIV treatments have decreased the likelihood of someone developing AIDS, while helping individuals live long and healthy lives without transmission to sexual partners. But for individuals with long-standing … Read more

Education