"How Emerging Therapies Can Reshape the Future of HIV Control: From Innovation to Impact" 

Speaker:

Dima Dandachi, M.D., M.P.H., FIDSA, FACP
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases
Medical Director, HIV Treatment and Prevention Program
Medical Director, Columbia/Boone County Public Health & Human Services
University of Missouri

About Dima Dandachi:

Dr. Dandachi received her medical educaton at Beirut Arab University and completed internal medicine residency training at Ascenson St. Francis. She earned a master's degree in public health from the UTHealth Houston and completed fellowship training in infectous diseases at Baylor College of Medicine.

Her clinical practice focuses on HIV prevention and treatment. In addition to increasing awareness of HIV prevention and improving the quality of care for patients with HIV, she has been involved in many community outreach programs and implemented several quality improvement projects in ambulatory care to achieve a more patient-centered approach including increasing the rapid start of HIV treatment. 

Dr. Dandachi's research centers on HIV prevention, treatment, and long-term engagement in care, with a particular emphasis on the social determinants of health that influence testing, treatment adherence, and retention in care. Her work has explored barriers faced by people living with HIV, including housing instability, transportation challenges, stigma, and access to care, as well as innovative approaches such as telehealth, rapid treatment initiation, and long-acting antiretroviral therapies to improve outcomes. Her publications reflect broad interests in HIV and emerging infectious diseases, including HIV care delivery, pre-exposure prophylaxis, cancer immunotherapy in people with HIV, COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccine research, Long COVID, and the use of digital health technologies and wearable sensors to monitor infectious diseases.