Donald Thea
Profiles

Donald M Thea, MD, MSc

Professor, Global Health - Boston University School of Public Health

617-358-2295
dthea@bu.edu
Crosstown Center - 391
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Biography

Dr. Thea received his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a Masters of Science in tropical medicine from the London School of Hygiene and trained in infectious diseases in the Department of Geographic Medicine at New England Medical Center. He has pursued a full time career in both domestic and international clinical and epidemiological infectious disease research, primarily in issues related to child survival and in particular mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS and pneumonia. Dr. Thea was an early member of Project SIDA (Kinshasa, Zaire), the first international clinical HIV/AIDS research field site, where he did work on the etiology of diarrhea in perinatally acquired HIV infection and was the director of the Clinical Research Unit. He pursued his interest in perinatal transmission of HIV as the Principal Investigator of the New York City Collaborative Perinatal HIV Transmission Study. In 1998 he then joined the Health and Social Development Unit of the Harvard Institute for International Development where he focused on international field research in Acute Respiratory Illness, Malaria and HIV.

Dr. Thea joined the Global Health department along with the other members of the Harvard team where he is currently a Professor of Global Health. Dr. Thea provides senior technical leadership of a portfolio of projects addressing community treatment of neonatal sepsis, management of acute respiratory illness in children, community and facilities-based management of acute malaria, presumptive prophylaxis of malaria in pregnancy, social and behavioral aspects of HIV transmission and child sexual abuse. Dr. Thea has been the Principal Investigator of several large studies and program implementation projects including a prospective cohort study of postnatal HIV through breastmilk (the Zambia Exclusive Breastfeeding Study), the Zambia Boston University Malaria Project (ZAMBUMP), the Boston University PMTCT Integration Projects (BUPIP) – Southern Province Zambia. He is the Zambia Site PI for the Bill and Melinda Gates funded Pneumonia Etiology Research in Child Health (PERCH) through a subcontract with Johns Hopkins University.

Most recently, in 2018 Dr. Thea was awarded a 5-year R01 grant from NICHD (Zambia Infant Cohort Study - ZICS) to study the causes and risk factors for increased morbidity and mortality seen among children who are born to HIV-infected mothers but escaped infection themselves. These HIV-exposed but uninfected children are now estimated to number 14.8 million, worldwide and growing.

Along with Professors Gill and Fox, Dr. Thea have a bi-weekly podcast, Free Associations, which critically reviews the merit and rigor of recent scientific publications that have been noted in the popular press.

Other Positions

  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research - Boston University

Education

  • Columbia University, MD Field of Study: Medicine
  • University of London, MSc Field of Study: Tropical Medicine
  • Antioch College, BS

Websites

Classes Taught

  • SPHGH805

Publications

  • Published on 11/1/2024

    Miyakawa R, Zhang H, Brooks WA, Prosperi C, Baggett HC, Feikin DR, Hammitt LL, Howie SRC, Kotloff KL, Levine OS, Madhi SA, Murdoch DR, O'Brien KL, Scott JAG, Thea DM, Antonio M, Awori JO, Bunthi C, Driscoll AJ, Ebruke B, Fancourt NS, Higdon MM, Karron RA, Moore DP, Morpeth SC, Mulindwa JM, Park DE, Rahman MZ, Rahman M, Salaudeen RA, Sawatwong P, Seidenberg P, Sow SO, Tapia MD, Knoll MD. Epidemiology of human metapneumovirus among children with severe or very severe pneumonia in high pneumonia burden settings: the PERCH study experience. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2024 Nov 01. PMID: 39489292.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 8/30/2024

    Odom AR, Gill CJ, Pieciak R, Ismail A, Thea D, MacLeod WB, Johnson WE, Lapidot R. Characterization of longitudinal nasopharyngeal microbiome patterns in maternally HIV-exposed Zambian infants. Gates Open Res. 2022; 6:143. PMID: 39345284.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 7/17/2024

    Duffy CR, Herlihy JM, Zulu E, Mwananyanda L, Forman L, Heeren T, Gill CJ, Harper M, Chilengi R, Chavuma R, Payne-Lohman B, Thea DM. Preterm birth among women with HIV: impact of preconception cART initiation. AIDS. 2024 Oct 01; 38(12):1749-1757. PMID: 39017638.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 5/9/2024

    Zulu EM, Herlihy JM, Duffy CR, Mwananyanda L, Chilengi R, Forman L, Heeren T, Gill CJ, Chavuma R, Payne-Lohman B, Thea DM. Single-test syphilis serology: A case of not seeing the forest for the trees. PLoS One. 2024; 19(5):e0303253. PMID: 38723103.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/20/2024

    Lapidot R, Faits T, Ismail A, Allam M, Khumalo Z, MacLeod W, Kwenda G, Mupila Z, Nakazwe R, Segrè D, Johnson WE, Thea DM, Mwananyanda L, Gill CJ. Nasopharyngeal Dysbiosis Precedes the Development of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Young Infants, a Longitudinal Infant Cohort Study. Gates Open Res. 2022; 6:48. PMID: 39050991.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 3/11/2024

    Gallagher KE, Awori JO, Knoll MD, Rhodes J, Higdon MM, Hammitt LL, Prosperi C, Baggett HC, Brooks WA, Fancourt N, Feikin DR, Howie SRC, Kotloff KL, Tapia MD, Levine OS, Madhi SA, Murdoch DR, O'Brien KL, Thea DM, Baillie VL, Ebruke BE, Kamau A, Moore DP, Mwananyanda L, Olutunde EO, Seidenberg P, Sow SO, Thamthitiwat S, Scott JAG. Factors predicting mortality in hospitalised HIV-negative children with lower-chest-wall indrawing pneumonia and implications for management. PLoS One. 2024; 19(3):e0297159. PMID: 38466696.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 2/16/2023

    Hooli S, King C, McCollum ED, Colbourn T, Lufesi N, Mwansambo C, Gregory CJ, Thamthitiwat S, Cutland C, Madhi SA, Nunes MC, Gessner BD, Hazir T, Mathew JL, Addo-Yobo E, Chisaka N, Hassan M, Hibberd PL, Jeena P, Lozano JM, MacLeod WB, Patel A, Thea DM, Nguyen NTV, Zaman SM, Ruvinsky RO, Lucero M, Kartasasmita CB, Turner C, Asghar R, Banajeh S, Iqbal I, Maulen-Radovan I, Mino-Leon G, Saha SK, Santosham M, Singhi S, Awasthi S, Bavdekar A, Chou M, Nymadawa P, Pape JW, Paranhos-Baccala G, Picot VS, Rakoto-Andrianarivelo M, Rouzier V, Russomando G, Sylla M, Vanhems P, Wang J, Basnet S, Strand TA, Neuman MI, Arroyo LM, Echavarria M, Bhatnagar S, Wadhwa N, Lodha R, Aneja S, Gentile A, Chadha M, Hirve S, O'Grady KF, Clara AW, Rees CA, Campbell H, Nair H, Falconer J, Williams LJ, Horne M, Qazi SA, Nisar YB. In-hospital mortality risk stratification in children aged under 5 years with pneumonia with or without pulse oximetry: A secondary analysis of the Pneumonia REsearch Partnership to Assess WHO REcommendations (PREPARE) dataset. Int J Infect Dis. 2023 Apr; 129:240-250. PMID: 36805325.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/29/2022

    Martin H, Falconer J, Addo-Yobo E, Aneja S, Arroyo LM, Asghar R, Awasthi S, Banajeh S, Bari A, Basnet S, Bavdekar A, Bhandari N, Bhatnagar S, Bhutta ZA, Brooks A, Chadha M, Chisaka N, Chou M, Clara AW, Colbourn T, Cutland C, D'Acremont V, Echavarria M, Gentile A, Gessner B, Gregory CJ, Hazir T, Hibberd PL, Hirve S, Hooli S, Iqbal I, Jeena P, Kartasasmita CB, King C, Libster R, Lodha R, Lozano JM, Lucero M, Lufesi N, MacLeod WB, Madhi SA, Mathew JL, Maulen-Radovan I, McCollum ED, Mino G, Mwansambo C, Neuman MI, Nguyen NTV, Nunes MC, Nymadawa P, O'Grady KF, Pape JW, Paranhos-Baccala G, Patel A, Picot VS, Rakoto-Andrianarivelo M, Rasmussen Z, Rouzier V, Russomando G, Ruvinsky RO, Sadruddin S, Saha SK, Santosham M, Singhi S, Soofi S, Strand TA, Sylla M, Thamthitiwat S, Thea DM, Turner C, Vanhems P, Wadhwa N, Wang J, Zaman SM, Campbell H, Nair H, Qazi SA, Nisar YB. Assembling a global database of child pneumonia studies to inform WHO pneumonia management algorithm: Methodology and applications. J Glob Health. 2022 Dec 29; 12:04075. PMID: 36579417.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/22/2022

    Pascoe S, Fox M, Kane J, Mngadi S, Manganye P, Long LC, Metz K, Allen T, Sardana S, Greener R, Zheng A, Thea DM, Murray LK. Study protocol: A randomised trial of the effectiveness of the Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) for improving HIV treatment outcomes among women experiencing intimate partner violence in South Africa. BMJ Open. 2022 Dec 22; 12(12):e065848. PMID: 36549749.

     Read At: PubMed
  • Published on 12/6/2022

    Gill CJ, Mwananyanda L, MacLeod WB, Kwenda G, Pieciak RC, Etter L, Bridges D, Chikoti C, Chirwa S, Chimoga C, Forman L, Katowa B, Lapidot R, Lungu J, Matoba J, Mwinga G, Mubemba B, Mupila Z, Muleya W, Mwenda M, Ngoma B, Nakazwe R, Nzara D, Pawlak N, Pemba L, Saasa N, Simulundu E, Yankonde B, Thea DM. What is the prevalence of COVID-19 detection by PCR among deceased individuals in Lusaka, Zambia? A postmortem surveillance study. BMJ Open. 2022 Dec 06; 12(12):e066763. PMID: 36600354.

     Read At: PubMed

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