Saurabh Mehandru is a mucosal immunologist, a practicing gastroenterologist and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His research is focused on mucosal immunopathology associated with viral infections and during inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Dr. Mehandru graduated with honors from medical school at the University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi University. He completed residency training in internal medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, where he also served as Chief Medical Resident. He then completed subspecialty training in gastroenterology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Dr. Mehandru’s research career began with understanding the pathogenesis of viral infections in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. He has studied the kinetics of gastrointestinal (GI) CD4⁺ T cell depletion in HIV-1 infected subjects and was among the first to report that intestinal CD4⁺ lymphocytes are preferentially and profoundly depleted during acute HIV-1 infection. Further, he has reported that GI CD4⁺ T cells fail to reconstitute completely despite years of apparently suppressive antiretroviral therapy; These studies have provided novel insights on early events in HIV-1 transmission and their impact on disease pathogenesis.

As a natural progression of his research in mucosal immunology, Dr. Mehandru has extended the focus of his laboratory to include the immunobiology of IBD. His expertise in the human mucosal immune system positions him well to make scientific contributions that connect the bench to the bedside of patients.