OHAM Staff
| Office of HIV and AIDS Malignancy | |
| Robert Yarchoan, M.D. | Director |
| Frehiwot Kiflemariam | Staff Assistant, Office of the Director |
| AIDS Malignancy Program | |
| Kishor Bhatia, Ph.D., FRCPath | Director |
| Geraldina Dominguez, Ph.D. | Program Director |
| Denise Jenkins, M.B.A. | Program Specialist |
| AIDS Cancer Clinical Program | |
| Mostafa Nokta, M.D., Ph.D. | Director |
| Rebecca Liddell Huppi, Ph.D. | Program Director |
Kishor Bhatia, Ph.D., FRCPath
Director, AIDS Malignancy Program
Dr. Kishor Bhatia received his B.S. in microbiology from Pune University in Pune, India and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Bombay in Mumbai, India. He achieved fellowship in the British Royal College of Pathology in 2007. Dr. Bhatia worked at the NCI Pediatric Branch from 1989 to 1997 as a senior staff fellow and as a senior staff scientist from 1997 to 2000. During that time he was also an assistant professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. From 1999 to 2004, he served on the governing council of the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research and as the director of the networks Translational Program at the Institute Louis Pasteur in Brussels, Belgium. He went on to serve as director of the research center at the Children’s Cancer Center at King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2000 to 2004. He also participated in research as an adjunct professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Nebraska in Omaha during this time. In pursuit of his interests in the cellular and molecular biology of cancers related to infectious disease, he continues his research as an adjunct investigator in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch in DCEG, NCI. His other interests include strengthening research networks in developing countries. He participated in the development of the Middle Eastern Cancer Society in 1994 and in the development of an intramural component of the Indo-US Bilateral program for the prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDS.
Mostafa Nokta, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, AIDS Cancer Clinical Program
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Mostafa Nokta, M.D., Ph.D. |
Dr. Mostafa Nokta received his M.D. from the University of Alexandria and an M.Sc. in Public Health and Preventive Medicine from the University of Cairo in his native Egypt. He holds a doctorate in microbiology and virology from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston. Dr. Nokta was previously on the faculty of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UTMB in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Nokta came to the NCI from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, where he served as the AIDS coordinator for the Institute and as Director of the AIDS and Immunosuppression Program in the Extramural Division. In this capacity, he developed several initiatives on HIV vaccines and AIDS-related oral complications, including cancer. A viral immunologist by training, Dr. Nokta’s career has focused on HIV/AIDS pathogenesis and HIV-related opportunistic viral infections including human cytomegalovirus (CMV). His laboratory at UTMB spanned several areas of interest. In attempts to understand the underlying mechanisms of immunosuppression and refraction of lymphocytes from HIV-infected patients to foreign antigens, he focused on studying transmembrane signaling pathways and second messenger regulation of lymphocytes, apoptosis, compartmentalization of the immune response, thymus function, and lymphocyte trafficking in HIV-infected subjects and their relationship to HIV disease. He evaluated state of the art anti-HIV and anti-CMV therapeutics, their efficacy, pharmacokinetics, adverse events, and the emergence of drug resistant HIV viral isolates. He has served as the site virologist/immunologist for several NIH-sponsored clinical studies conducted by the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) and also served on multiple ACTG committees. Dr. Nokta is a member of several national and international scientific societies.
