About

Dr. Seña has served as a principal investigator or co-investigator on NIH, CDC and industry supported multi-center trials involving epidemiology, novel diagnostics and therapeutic regimens for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). She was a member of the Scientific Review Committee for the NIH STI-Clinical Trials Group from 2007-2021. Her primary research interest is in syphilis, including vaccine development. She is the Co-Project Director for an NIH STI Cooperative Research Center grant for syphilis vaccine development titled “Global sequence and surface antigenic diversity of Treponema pallidum outer membrane proteins,” which involves UNC Project-Malawi and UNC Project-China. Dr. Seña also has research interests in other bacterial STIs and STI/HIV/hepatitis C public health interventions, having previously served as the Medical and Laboratory Director at the Durham County Department of Public Health from 2001- 2020. Dr. Seña currently serves as a consultant for the NC HIV/STD Prevention and Care Branch and the CDC STD Treatment Guidelines, and is the Treasurer of the American STD Association. She has mentored numerous clinical and graduate level trainees in STI research and public health careers at the academic, state and national level, and has been one of the key faculty members on STI/HIV training grants. Dr. Seña provides care on both the general infectious disease and compromised host services, and sees outpatients in the transplant ID clinic. Dr. Sena is also the Principal Investigator for an NIH-supported contract to develop a syphilis specimen biorepository for future syphilis diagnostics.  She is a consultant for the CDC STD Treatment Guidelines and the NC STD/HIV Prevention and Care Branch.

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  Searching for a Vaccine Against an Ancient Scourge

  With data from one of the most extensive genomic surveys of the syphilis bacterium – correlated with clinical information from patients – an international team of researchers and doctors are on the hunt for proteins on the surface of the microbe that don’t vary and could be good targets for a much-needed vaccine. At the … Read more

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  The Continued Rise in Syphilis Cases: An Increasing Priority For Global Public Health

  April is sexually transmitted infections (STI) awareness month, and Arlene Seña, MD, MPH, a researcher with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, is sounding the alarm about the importance of syphilis prevention, testing, and treatment. U.S. syphilis cases have increased nearly 80% since 2018,  a level not seen since 1950, while babies born … Read more