Email: ChristineDurand@jhmi.edu
Phone: 443-803-1931
Dr. Christine Durand’s research focuses on improving outcomes and access to transplantation in the setting of chronic viral infections. Her early work demonstrated the safety of bone marrow transplantation in people with HIV and quantified the impact on long-lived HIV reservoirs relevant to HIV cure research. Subsequently, she expanded her focus to innovative approaches to expand access to solid organ transplantation by utilizing organs from donors with treatable viral infections.
Under the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act of 2013, it became legal for people with HIV to receive organs from donors with HIV under research protocols. Dr. Durand established the HOPE in Action Consortium, a network of US transplant centers, to study this novel practice. She designed and conducted the first clinical trials of HIV-to-HIV kidney and liver transplantation, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showing that this practice was safe and effective. In 2024, her research led the Department of Health and Human Services to change federal policy, allowing HIV-to-HIV kidney and liver transplantation to expand outside of research. In parallel with these clinical trials, Dr. Durand led epidemiological, implementation, and translational laboratory studies, generating key insights to optimize this new practice. Her work has influenced global policy and practice, with expansion of HIV-to-HIV transplantation internationally based on this work.
Dr. Durand was also a pioneer of solid organ transplantation from donors with HCV to recipients without HCV. She performed epidemiologic studies to quantify the potential of utilizing organs from donors with HCV and led clinical trials of prophylaxis with antivirals to prevent HCV acquisition in this setting.
Dr. Durand founded and co-directs the Johns Hopkins University Transplant Research Center, which conducts research in Clinical Studies, Epidemiologic and Quantitative Analysis, Ethical and Qualitative Research, and Translational/Basic Science, and trains leaders in transplantation.