About

For the past 30 years, Dr. Cohen has focused on the transmission of STDs including HIV, and strategies for STD and HIV prevention. His laboratory has focused on studies related to the transmission, and prevention of transmission of HIV infection. He has studied HIV in genital secretions and identified inflammatory conditions-especially sexually transmitted diseases that increase the excretion of HIV in semen. His multidisciplinary research group has worked over many years to characterize the ability of different classes of antiretroviral agents to block HIV replication in the male genital tract, as represented by copies of HIV RNA detected in seminal plasma. He has also worked to characterize the relationship(s) between HIV in semen and blood, through detailed molecular phylogenetic analysis. Based on these results he was able to design and lead a multinational NIH clinical trial, HPN 052 that demonstrated that successful antiretroviral treatment of HIV can prevent the sexual transmission of HIV. Currently, he is co-PI of the HIV Prevention Trials Network. Most recently, he has played an active role in the development of COVID-19 prevention activities. He serves on the NIH ACTIV Committee, a public-private partnership to organize COVID-19 research, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the newly formed NIAID COVID Prevention Network (CoVPN). In this capacity, he led research on the use of monoclonal antibodies for the prevention and early treatment of COVID-19.

Awards and Honors

• North Carolina Award for Science- (2013)
• Joseph E. Smadel Lectureship Award, Infectious Diseases Society of America- (2013)
• O. Max Gardner Award for Medicine, Microbiology, & Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill- (2008)
• Distinguished Career Award Lifetime Achievement in STD/HIV Research, American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association- (2005)

In the news

• 

  Eron, Cohen Lead NIH Congressional Briefing on HIV Treatment and Prevention Research

  The National Institutes of Health held a congressional briefing July 9 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. Dr. Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Joe Eron, chief of infectious diseases, kicked off the briefing session with an overview of HIV treatment and prevention research, recognizing … Read more

• 

  Associations Between Gender and Solicited Adverse Events After Passive Infusion of VRC01 or Placebo in HVTN 704/HPTN 085

  Despite remarkable advances in HIV prevention strategies over the last 2 decades, 1.3 million people were diagnosed with new infections in 2022. Diversifying HIV prevention options is imperative because different populations may have different priorities that influence the acceptability, uptake, and durable use of prevention modalities. Realizing the potential of HIV prevention options requires understanding … Read more

• 

  Incidence of Statin Initiation Among People With and Without Human Immunodeficiency Virus

  To reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) among people living in the US with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, PLWH), it is critical to asess shortfalls in statin initiation. Stephen R. Cole, PhD, Myron S. Cohen, MD, Joseph J. Eron, MD, and Michelle Floris-Moore, MD, MS., aimed to describe patterns in clinically indicated statin initiation among demographically similar … Read more

• 

  Oh, the Places They’ll Go! The ID Fellowship Program (ACGME) Celebrates Graduation

  The ID Fellowship Program led by Christopher Sellers, MD, MPH, held a reception for six graduating fellows at the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill, on the evening of June 18. Joined by Joe Eron, MD, chief of the division of infectious diseases, Myron Cohen, MD, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, … Read more

Education