Division of Pediatric Retrovirology

The Service of Retrovirology provides comprehensive primary and specialty medical care and social services to infants, children and adolescents living with HIV infection and infants exposed to HIV. Risk reduction, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is provided for adolescents at risk for HIV and social services are provided for women living with HIV.

We also provide Travel Clinic Services and International Adoption Consultation at Texas Children's Hospital Clinical Care Center. Retrovirology participates in the education of U.S. and foreign health professionals and in clinical research in HIV/ AIDS treatment and prevention.

Faculty members are active educators on a local, national, and international scale on topics of HIV infection treatment and prevention.

Service chief Mary Paul, M.D., is an elected co-chair for the Working Group on Antiretroviral Therapy and Medical Management of HIV-Infected Children, a working group of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OARAC) of the NIH (guidelines are published on the Clinicalinfo-HIV-Gov website as a living document).

Faculty member, Susan Gillespie, M.D., Ph.D. is a distinguished educator and recent recipient of the Clark Faculty Service Award from Baylor College of Medicine for her work in this area.

Faculty member, Gayatri Mirani, M.D., MAS is a clinician with interests in prevention research, community and provider education and outreach on HIV and STI prevention and treatment. She was involved as a sub-investigator in Pfizer-sponsored covid-19 vaccine for children from 2021 through 2025. She is certified in Travel HealthTM through International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM). 

Research Projects

Research projects focus on the diagnosis and treatment of HIV infection in infants, children, adolescents, and young adults, and outcomes in youth with HIV, the elimination of HIV transmission to youth, and best practices of HIV transmission prevention from mother to baby..

Pediatric Retrovirology operates within the Division of Immunology, Allergy and Retrovirology and conducts clinical studies sponsored by the NIH through two Networks. The Adolescent Trials Network conducts independent and collaborative research that explores promising behavioral, microbicidal, prophylactic, therapeutic, and vaccine modalities in adolescents, ages 12 years through 24 years, to prevent or treat HIV or other STIs.

The International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group’s research work is in the area of improving health outcomes for infants, children and adolescents, and pregnant/postpartum women who are impacted by or living with HIV by evaluating novel treatments and interventions for HIV and HIV prevention, for the complications of HIV  and for tuberculosis and other HIV-related conditions.

Clinical Trials

• ATN 173 / HPTN 115: Doxycycline Prophylaxis for Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Adolescent and Young Adult Females in the United States ATN 164, Screen2Prevent: Using Digital Health to Improve HIV Screening and Prevention for Adolescents in the Emergency Department.
• IMPAACT 2037: Open-Label, Phase I Study of the Safety and Pharmacokinetics of PGT121.414.LS alone and in combination with VRC07-523LS in Infants Exposed to HIV-1 IMPAACT P1115: Very Early Intensive Treatment of Infants Living with HIV to Achieve HIV Remission: A Phase I/II Proof of Concept Study
• IMPAACT 2041:  Phase I/II Study of the Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Glecaprevir/Pibrentasvir Initiated in Pregnancy in Women with Hepatitis C with and without HIV