Karen T. Tashima is a Professor of Medicine, Infectious Disease clinician, and clinical research scientist at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She also serves as Scientific Director of HIV Care at The Miriam Hospital and Chair of The Miriam Hospital Institutional Review Board. Dr. Tashima’s primary research focuses on interventions for HIV, HCV, and other infectious diseases. She has directed a clinical trials unit for the last 20 years to investigate and improve upon aspects of HIV care including antiretroviral medications, comorbidities, adverse drug effects, therapeutic vaccines, HIV drug resistance, and co-infection with hepatitis C. Currently, the focus of studies includes testing cure strategies, novel delivery of antiretroviral medications, and residual inflammation associated with well-controlled HIV infection. Dr. Tashima’s clinical studies address the needs of the local Rhode Island population and facilitate participation of women, minorities, persons with substance use disorders, and those with adherence challenges. Dr. Tashima is co-chair of a national AIDS Clinical Trials Group study to test long acting antiretroviral medications administered asmonthly injections in patients who have difficulty adhering to oral daily medications. The study is collaborative with other disciplines, including social work, case management, mental health, and is patient-centered while investigating the benefits of a long acting antiretroviral treatment. She mentors trainees and junior faculty in the design and conduct of clinical trials. Dr. Tashima oversees research in the division, mentoring junior faculty, and providing research staff support. She oversees the CFAR RISE laboratory, with two laboratory technicians processing, shipping and storing all types of research specimens. Dr. Tashima is also involved in inpatient infectious disease studies including novel Clostridioides difficile treatments in an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Colleen Kelly, GI Division, and strategies for treatment of complicated urinary tract infections (https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/antibacterial-resistance-leadership-group). Dr. Tashima also works closely with Omar Galarraga, PhD, who is a health economics researcher at Brown and is a team member on the long acting ACTG HIV treatment study.
Keywords: HIV; Clinical Trials; Mentoring; IRB
Key Publications:
Leeper S, Fillion K, Gillani F, Ross H, Rana A, Tashima K. Decade of HIV in Rhode Island: Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients diagnosed in 2001 and 2010. (2013) R I Med J. Feb 1; 96(2):35-40. PMID: 23641426
Kwara A, Cao L, Yang H, Poethke P, Kurpewski J, Tashima KT, Mahjoub DB, Curt MH, Peloquin CA. Factors associated with variability in Rifampin Plasma Pharmacokinetics and the relationship between Rifampin concentrations and induction of Efavirenz clearance. (2014) Pharmacotherapy. Mar; 34(3):265-71. PMID: 24420746. PMCID: PMC3947488
Letendre SL, Mills AM, Tashima KT, Thomas DA, Min SS, Chen S, Song IH, Piscitelli SC; extended ING116080 study team. ING116070: A Study of the Pharmacokinetics and Antivrial Activity of Dolutegravir in Cerebrospinal Fluid in HIV-1-Infected, Antiretroviral Therapy-Naive Subjects. (2014) Clin Infect Dis. Oct; 59(7):1032-7. Doi: 10.1093/cid/ciu477. PMID: 24944232. PMCID: PMC4166983
Tashima K, Crofoot G, Tomaka FL, Kakuda TN, Brochot A, Van de Casteele T, Opsomer M, Garner W, Margot N, Custodio JM, Fordyce MW, Szwarcberg J. Cobicistat-boosted darunavir in HIV-1-infected adults; week 48 results of a Phase IIIb, open-label single-arm trial. (2014) AIDS Res Ther. Dec 1; 11:39. doi: 10.1186/1742-6405-11-39. PMID: 25926858. PMCID: PMC4413526
Clark US, Walker KA, Cohen RA, Devlin KN, Folkers AM, Pina MJ, Tashima KT. Facial emotion recognition impairments are associated with brain volume abnormalities in individuals with HIV. (2015) Neuropsychologia. Apr; 70:263-71. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia. 2015.03.003. PMID: 25744868. PMCID: PMC4508018
Young B, Squires KE, Tashima K, Henry K, Schneider S, LaMarca A, Zhao HH, Ross LL, Shaefer MS. Estimated glomerular filtration rates through 144 weeks on therapy in HIV-1-infected subjects receiving atazanavir/ritonavir and abacavir/lamivudine or simplified to unboosted atazanavir/abacavir/lamivudine. (2015) HIV Clin Trials. Aug; 16(4):125-9. doi: 10.1179/1528433614Z.0000000017. PMID: 26133089
Stanton CA. Papandonatos GD, Shuter J, Bicki A, Lloyd-Richardson EE, deDios MA, Morrow KM, Makgoeng SB, Tashima KT, Niaura RS. Outcomes of a Tailored Intervention for Cigarette Smoking Cessation among Latinos living with HIV/AIDS. (2015) Nicotine Tob Res. Aug; 17(8):975-82. Doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntv014. PMID: 26180222. PMCID: PMC4580545
Tashima KT, Mollan KR, Na L, Gandhi RT, Klingman KL, Fichtenbaum CJ, Andrade A, Johnson VA, Eron JJ, Smeaton L, Haubrich RH. Regimen selection in the OPTIONS trial of HIV salvage therapy: drug resistance, prior therapy, and race-ethnicity determine the degree of regimen complexity. (2015) HIV Clin Trials. Aug; 16(4):147-56. Doi: 10.1179-1945577115Y .0000000001. PMID: 26212575. PMCID: PMC4640927
Tashima KT, Smeaton LM, Fichtenbaum CJ, Andrade A, Eron JJ, Gandhi RT, Johnson VA, Klingman KL, Ritz J, Hodder S, Santanta JL, Wilkin T Haubrich RH: A5241 Study Team. HIV Salvage Therapy does not require Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors: A randomized, controlled trial. (2015) Ann Intern Med. Nov 24:908-17. doi.10.7326/M15-949. PMID: 26595748. PMCID: PMC4681296
Okafor CN, Kelso NE, Bryant V, Burrell LE 2nd, Miguez MJ, Gongvatana A, Tashima KT, DelaMonte S, Cook RL. Cohen RA. Body mass index inflammatory biomarkers and neurocognitive impairment in HIV-infected persons. (2017) Psychol Health Med. Jun 20; 1-14. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 27319430. PMCID: PMC5173436
Cohen RA, Siegel S, Gullett JM, Porges E, Woods AJ, Huang H, Zhu Y, Tashima K, Ding MZ. Neural response to working memory demand predicts neurocognitive deficits in HIV.
J Neurovirol. 2018 Jun;24(3):291-304. doi: 10.1007/s13365-017-0607-z. Epub 2017 Dec 26. PMID: 29280107
Reece R, Delong A, Matthew D, Tashima K, Kantor R. Accumulated pre-switch resistance to more recently introduced one-pill-once-a-day antiretroviral regimens impacts HIV-1 virologic outcome. J Clin Virol. 2018 Aug;105:11-17. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2018.05.008. Epub 2018 May 21. PMID:29807234
Contact Information:
The Miriam Hospital
1125 N Main St.
Providence, RI 02904
Telephone: (401) 793-4089
Email: KTashima@Lifespan.org
Additional links of interest: