Dr. Magdalena Sobieszczyk is the PI of the NIH-funded Columbia HVTN and ACTG Clinical Research Site. Her research focuses on developing, testing, and implementation of biomedical strategies to prevent HIV infection, specifically preventive HIV vaccines and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Particular interests include assessing combination biomedical prevention strategies such as vaccines together with oral and topical PrEP; and evaluating host factors influencing immunologic and virologic course of HIV disease and response to vaccination in study participants. She has been involved in the development and implementation of several international and national HIV prevention protocols and is the co-chair of phase 2b HIV vaccine protocol to determine the safety and efficacy of the DNA prime-Ad5 boost vaccine regimen in individuals at risk of HIV infection (HVTN 505).

Her research with HIV infected individuals includes investigating HIV testing and linkage to care in the predominantly Latino communities of northern Manhattan. This also includes describing the prevalence of metabolic and renal abnormalities in this population and in South African cohorts.

Dr. Sobieszczyk is also a co-investigator of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) project entitled “Viral Setpoint and Clinical Progression in HIV-1 Subtype C Infection: The Role of Immunological and Viral Factors During Acute and Early Infection” (Salim Abdool Karim, PI).