Center for Global Health | Faculty

picture of Chris Beyrer Chris Beyrer

Professor
Director, Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program; Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health & Human Rights; Senior Scientific Liaison, HIV Vaccine Trials Network; Associate Director, Center for Global Health

Academic Degrees

MD, 1988, SUNY Downstate; MPH, JHSPH, 1990; BA, History, 1981, Hobart and William Smith Colleges

School/Organization
Bloomberg School of Public Health

Department / Division
Epidemiology
Infectious Diseases

Joint Departmental Affiliations
International Health; Health Behavior, and Society

Center and Institute Affiliations
Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program

Departmental Address
615 N. Wolfe St., Suite E 7152

Email: cbeyrer@jhsph.edu
Phone: 410 614-5247
Fax: 410 614-8371

Research and Professional Experience

HIV/AIDS preventive interventions, including HIV vaccine clinical trials and preparedness studies. Epidemiology and molecular epidemiology of HIV. Substance use and narcotics reaserch. Public health and human rights.

Keywords

HIV/AIDS, molecular epidemiology, human rights, China, Burma, Russia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, HIV vaccines

Honors and Awards

Elected, 2000, Delta Omega Honorary Public Health Society, Alpha Chapter, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore; Recipient, 1999 Charlotte Silverman Fund Award for Epidemiology and Policy, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health; Nominee, 1999, for the First Jonathan Mann Prize in Health and Human Rights; Winner, 1988 Lowell E. Bellin Award for Excellence in Preventive Medicine and Community Health. S.U.N.Y Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn; Recipient, Dr. Michael Kenny International Fellowship Fund Grant for study in India, 1987; Elected, Alpha Omega Alpha, S.U.N.Y. Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn, 1987; Elected, Phi Beta Kappa, Hobart and Wm. Smith Colleges, 1980.

Research Projects
AIDS International Training and Research Program (Fogarty AITRP)
Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH, Principal Investigator Taha E. Taha, MD, PhD, Country Director for Malawi The JHU Fogarty International Training and Research Program (JHU-AITRP) provides greatly needed opportunities for the training of Malawians in the fields of HIV, STDs, epidemiology, vaccinology,...

Building Capacity for the Delivery and Assessment of Adapted Maternal Health Interventions for Internally Displaced Persons in Burma
This collaboration is with the Mae Tao Clinic in the Thai-Burma border region to establish a network of six standardized, locally staffed, mobile centers for capacity building and referral care within communities of internally displaced persons. Basic obstetric services and contraception will be...

Center for Public Health and Human Rights
The Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR) was established in April 2004 to examine the impact of human rights violations on the general health of populations through the application of epidemiological practices and other public health tools. CPPHR uses critical evidence-based...

Community-Based Vct: Thailand
In this study, Phase III of a community-level randomized controlled study, 32 communities in Africa (Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa) and 14 communities in Thailand will be randomized to either a community-based HIV voluntary counseling and testing (CBVCT) intervention or a clinic-based...

Gay, Bisexual, and MSM in Moscow, Russia: Identity, Health Risks, and Stigma
This study is an epidemiologic investigation of identity, health risks, and stigma among gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (GB & MSM) in Moscow, Russia. The study goals are to explore the emerging identities among these men; optimize epidemiologic approaches to researching their health...

JHU-Fogarty African Bioethics Training Program
The Johns Hopkins-Fogarty African Bioethics Training Program trains African professionals in bioethics and research ethics through course work, seminars, and funded independent scholarship in research ethics. Through funding from the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health,...

Johns Hopkins University-Guangxi, China Clinical Trials Unit
Leading HIV investigators from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) - Guangxi China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Collaboration propose a Clinical Trials Unit (JHU-Guangxi China CDC CTU) for the purpose of conducting clinical trials at two well developed clinical research sites in...

MOM (Mobile Obstetric Maternal Health Workers) Project
Civil conflict in eastern Burma has left several hundred thousand internally displaced persons (IDPs) in poor health and has severely limited their access to functioning health care services, especially reproductive health care. To address these problems, the Center for Public Health and Human...

Partnership for Building the Capacity of Makerere University to Improve Health Outcomes in Uganda
The ultimate goal of this project is to improve health outcomes by building and sustaining capacity at MU to address current and evolving health priorities in Uganda and the East Africa Region through strategic partnerships with JHU and key national and international stakeholders. The faculties...

Reducing Global Inequities in Burden of Disease
The Johns Hopkins University has a long history of engagement with global health issues and has one of the largest programs of its kind in the world. It is an intensely collaborative environment across disciplines, departments, and schools where faculty routinely engage in multidisciplinary...

Responding to Burma's Pro-Democracy Movement
This project seeks to build the capacity of Burmese ethnic minority organizations and individuals to investigate, document and report on human rights violations in their communities; understand the relationship of such violations on the health of the populations; to advocate for survivors and...

Southern Asia HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Unit
Johns Hopkins University and its partners in Thailand and India are pleased to propose the JHU Southern Asia Clinical Trials Unit, David D. Celentano, Principal Investigator. This CTU focuses on recruiting injecting drug users (IDU) and high risk Asian populations affected by the HIV/AIDS...

Understanding Risk Factors for HIV and Creating Innovative Prevention Interventions in Kazakhstan: Project Renaissance
Grave concern exists among international health leaders in respect to the current HIV epidemic in Central Asia, a region where the prevalence of HIV is continuing to rise. In Kazakhstan, the existence of heavy drug-trafficking, availability of low-cost heroin, and mobile populations of migrant...

Selected Publications

Baral S, Trapence G, Motimedi F, Umar E, Iipinge S, Dausab F, Beyrer C. HIV prevalence, risks for HIV infection, and human rights among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Malawi, Namibia, and Botswana. PLoS ONE. 2009;4(3):e4997. Epub 2009 Mar 26.
Teela KC, Mullany LC, Lee CI, Poh E, Paw P, Masenior N, Maung C, Beyrer C, Lee TJ. Community-based delivery of maternal care in conflict-affected areas of eastern Burma: perspectives from lay maternal health workers. Soc Sci Med. 2009 Apr;68(7):1332-40. Epub 2009 Feb 18.
Beyrer C. Hidden yet happening: the epidemics of sexually transmitted infections and HIV among men who have sex with men in developing countries. Sex Transm Infect. 2008 June;84(6):410-2.
Beyrer C, Lee TJ. Responding to infectious diseases in Burma and her border regions.
Confl. Health. 2008 Mar 14;2(1):2.
Saavedra J, Izazola-Licea JA, Beyrer C. Sex between men in the context of HIV: The AIDS 2008 Jonathan Mann Memorial Lecture in health and human rights. J Int AIDS Soc. 2008 Dec 24;11(1):9.
Beyrer C. Burma and the challenge of humanitarian assistance. Lancet. 2007 Oct27;370(9597):1465-7.
Beyrer C. HIV epidemiology update and transmission factors: risks and risk contexts--16th International AIDS Conference epidemiology plenary. Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Apr 1;44(7):981-7.
Beyrer C, Kawichai S, Hyder JA, Borwornsin S, Srirak N, Natpratan C, Celentano DD, Khamboonruang C. Patterns of HIV and syphilis infection in Northern Thailand 1998-2001.
Int J STD AIDS. 2007 Mar;18(3):179-83.
Beyrer C, Suwanvanichkij V, Mullany L, Richards A, Franck N, Samuels A, Lee TJ. Responding to AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Emerging Infectious Diseases in Burma: Dilemmas of Policy and Practice. PLoS Med. 2006 Oct. 10;3(10) e393, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed0030393.
Beyrer C. Sripaipan T. Tovanabutra S. Jittiwutikarn J Suriyanon V. Vongchak T Srirak N Kawichai S Razak MH Celentano DD. High HIV, hepatitis C and sexual risks among drug-using men who have sex with men in Northern Thailand. AIDS. 2005 Sep 23;19(14):12535-1540.
Beyrer C. Is trafficking a health issue? Lancet 2004;(363):564-565.
Beyrer C, Razak MH, Labrique A, Brookmeyer R. Assessing the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Burma. J AIDS 2003;32:311-317.
Beyrer C, Juttiwutikarn J, Teokul W, Razak MH, Suriyanon V, Srirak N, Pripaipan T, Vonchuk T, Tovanabutra S, Sripaipan T, Celentano DD. Drug use, increasing incarceration rates, and prison associated HIV risks in Thailand. AIDS & Behavior 2003;(7) 2:153-161.
Beyrer C. Hidden Epidemic of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in China: Crisis and Opportunity. JAMA 2003;298(10).
Beyrer C. HIV infection rates and heroin trafficking: Fearful symmetries. Bulletin on Narcotics: The science of drug use epidemiology 2003;(14)2:400-417.
Beyrer C, Stachowiak J. Health Consequences of the Trafficking of Women and Girls in Southeast Asia. Brown Rev World Affairs 2003;10(1):105-119.
Beyrer C. The HIV/AIDS vaccine research effort: an update. Hopkins HIV Rep. 2003;15(1):6-7.
Beyrer C. HIV infection and heroin trafficking in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Interntl J Harm Reduction 2002;4:4-6.
Beyrer C, Kass N. Human rights, politics, and reviews of research ethics. Lancet 2002; 360: 246-51.
Beyrer C. Injecting Drug Users and HIV Vaccine Trials: What Does the Science Say? AIDScience 2002;2(14):p1-6.
Leiter K, Suwanvanichkij V. Tamm I, Iacopino V, Beyrer C. Human rights abuses and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS: the experiences of Burmese women in Thailand. Health Hum Rights 2006;9(2)88-111.
Lee TJ, Mullany LC, Richards A, Maung C, Beyrer C. Mortality rates in conflict zones, Karen, Karenni, and Mon states in eastern Burma. Tropical Medicine & International Health. 2006; Jul;11(7):1197-1227.
Kawichai S, Celentano DD, Vongchak T, Beyrer C, Suriyanon V, Razak MH, Srirak N, Rungruengthanakit K, Jittiwutikarn J. HIV voluntary counseling and testing and HIV incidence in male injecting drug users in northern Thailand. JAIDS 2006 February 1;41(2):186-193.
Stachowiak JA, Tichonova F, Strathdee SA, Stibich M, Mogilnii V, Beyrer C. Marked ethnic differences in HIV prevalence and risk behaviors among injecting drug users in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 2004. Drug & Alcohol Dep., 2006, 82(S1):S7-S14.
Stachowiak JA, Sherman S, Konakova A, Krushkova I, Peryshkina A, Strathdee S, Beyrer C. Health risks and power among female sex workers in Moscow. SIECUS Rep. Spring 2005;33(2):18-25.
Beyrer C. War in the Blood: Sex, Politics, and AIDS in Southeast Asia. (Zed Books, London, 1998, White Lotus, Bangkok, 1998, and St. Martin.

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