Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Center for
Global Health

Center for Global Health

Cesar Ugarte-Gil, MD, MSc, PhD

Cesar Ugarte-Gil, MD, MSc, PhD
More Info

Associate Scholar

  •  Assistant Professor, Epidemiology | University of Texas Medical Branch
  •  Peru
  •   COVID-19 | HIV/AIDS | Tropical Medicine | Tuberculosis

Languages: Spanish (native), English (fluent)

Bio statement

Cesar Ugarte-Gil is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Epidemiology at SPPH at UTMB. He has PhD in Global Diseases Epidemiology and Control from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a MSc in Epidemiology at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and MD from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Dr. Ugarte-Gil´s work is focused on respiratory infections such as Tuberculosis, COVID-19, Influenza and others. His interest is validation of point-of-care diagnostic tools and their implementation at primary care level. Also, he has a specific interest in the association of comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus and depression with tuberculosis, and how this association can affect tuberculosis treatment outcomes. Another interest is research in Bartonella bacilliformis, a bacterial infection common in the Andean region, and other common tropical infections prevalent in Latin America. He has also served as an member of the Expert Board at the National Tuberculosis Program in Peru, independent consultant for PAHO and WHO in Tuberculosis.

Recent global health projects

1. FEND for TB will identify and assess inexpensive tests that are available at the point of care where the patients first are evaluated; once validated, these tests will enable more rapid identification and treatment of TB (Funding: NIH 1U01AI152084)

2. Validation of rapid, molecular testing for COVID-19 and integration with TB diagnostics: The goal of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of integrating COVID-19 and TB testing, namely be simplifying the identification of both diseases by using a single respiratory sample for testing on the GeneXpert platform (Funding: Canadian Institutes of Health Research 442889)

Selected publications

Please provide a citation (including URL) to your recent publications relevant to global health in which you were an author
Eckold C, Kumar V, Weiner J, Alisjahbana B, Riza AL, Ronacher K, Coronel J, Kerry-Barnard S, Malherbe ST, Kleynhans L, Stanley K, Ruslami R, Ioana M, Ugarte-Gil C, Walzl G, van Crevel R, Wijmenga C, Critchley JA, Dockrell HM, Cliff JM. Impact of Intermediate Hyperglycemia and Diabetes on Immune Dysfunction in Tuberculosis. Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Jan 23;72(1):69-78. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa751. PubMed PMID: 32533832; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7823074.

Ugarte-Gil C, Icochea M, Llontop Otero JC, Villaizan K, Young N, Cao Y, Liu B, Griffin T, Brunette MJ. Implementing a socio-technical system for computer-aided tuberculosis diagnosis in Peru: A field trial among health professionals in resource-constraint settings. Health Informatics J. 2020 Dec;26(4):2762-2775. doi: 10.1177/1460458220938535. Epub 2020 Jul 18. PubMed PMID: 32686560.

Fentress M, Ugarte-Gil C, Cervantes M, Rivas D, Moore D, Caliguiri P, Bergman K, Noazin S, Padovani A, Gilman RH. Lung Ultrasound Findings Compared with Chest X-Ray Findings in Known Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study in Lima, Peru. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Nov;103(5):1827-1833. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0542. PubMed PMID: 32815504; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7646758.

Faust L, Zimmer AJ, Kohli M, Saha S, Boffa J, Bayot ML, Nsofor I, Campos L, Mashamba-Thompson T, Herrera R, Emeka E, Shrestha S, Ugarte-Gil C, Katamba A, Pambudi I, Bichara D, Calderon RI, Ahmadzada N, Safdar MA, Nikam C, Dos Santos Lázari C, Hussain H, Win MM, Than KZ, Ahumibe A, Waning B, Pai M. SARS-CoV-2 testing in low- and middle-income countries: availability and affordability in the private health sector. Microbes Infect. 2020 Nov - Dec;22(10):511-514. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2020.10.005. Epub 2020 Oct 14. PubMed PMID: 33065265; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7553871.

Alisjahbana B, McAllister SM, Ugarte-Gil C, Panduru NM, Ronacher K, Koesoemadinata RC, Zubiate C, Riza AL, Malherbe ST, Kleynhans L, Lopez S, Dockrell HM, Ruslami R, Ioana M, Walzl G, Pearson F, Critchley JA, Moore DAJ, van Crevel R, Hill PC. Screening diabetes mellitus patients for pulmonary tuberculosis: a multisite study in Indonesia, Peru, Romania and South Africa. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2020 Oct 28;. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/traa100. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33118039.

Sánchez-Sánchez J, Alarcón-Loayza J, Villa-Castillo L, Kohli M, Boehme CC, Carmona S, Garcia PJ, Pai M, Ugarte-Gil C. Availability of essential diagnostics at primary care public clinics in Peru. Microbes Infect. 2020 Sep 28;:104761. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2020.09.007. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 32992008.

Garay-Baquero DJ, White CH, Walker NF, Tebruegge M, Schiff HF, Ugarte-Gil C, Morris-Jones S, Marshall BG, Manousopoulou A, Adamson J, Vallejo AF, Bielecka MK, Wilkinson RJ, Tezera LB, Woelk CH, Garbis SD, Elkington P. Comprehensive plasma proteomic profiling reveals biomarkers for active tuberculosis. JCI Insight. 2020 Sep 17;5(18). doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.137427. PubMed PMID: 32780727; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7526553.

Sedamano J, Schwalb A, Cachay R, Zamudio C, Ugarte-Gil C, Soto-Cabezas G, Munayco CV, Seas C. Prevalence of positive TST among healthcare workers in high-burden TB setting in Peru. BMC Public Health. 2020 May 3;20(1):612. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-08756-9. PubMed PMID: 32362276; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7197122.

Carrasco-Escobar G, Schwalb A, Tello-Lizarraga K, Vega-Guerovich P, Ugarte-Gil C. Spatio-temporal co-occurrence of hotspots of tuberculosis, poverty and air pollution in Lima, Peru. Infect Dis Poverty. 2020 Mar 24;9(1):32. doi: 10.1186/s40249-020-00647-w. PubMed PMID: 32204735; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7092495.

Ruesen C, Chaidir L, Ugarte-Gil C, van Ingen J, Critchley JA, Hill PC, Ruslami R, Santoso P, Huynen MA, Dockrell HM, Moore DAJ, Alisjahbana B, van Crevel R. Diabetes is associated with genotypically drug-resistant tuberculosis. Eur Respir J. 2020 Mar;55(3). doi: 10.1183/13993003.01891-2019. Print 2020 Mar. PubMed PMID: 31831585.

Ugarte-Gil C, Alisjahbana B, Ronacher K, Riza AL, Koesoemadinata RC, Malherbe ST, Cioboata R, Llontop JC, Kleynhans L, Lopez S, Santoso P, Marius C, Villaizan K, Ruslami R, Walzl G, Panduru NM, Dockrell HM, Hill PC, Mc Allister S, Pearson F, Moore DAJ, Critchley JA, van Crevel R. Diabetes Mellitus Among Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients From 4 Tuberculosis-endemic Countries: The TANDEM Study. Clin Infect Dis. 2020 Feb 14;70(5):780-788. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciz284. PubMed PMID: 30958536.

Lee GO, Paz-Soldan VA, Riley-Powell AR, Gómez A, Tarazona-Meza C, Villaizan Paliza K, Ambikapathi R, Ortiz K, Comina G, Hernandez G, Naik N, Oberhelman R, Ugarte-Gil C. Food Choice and Dietary Intake among People with Tuberculosis in Peru: Implications for Improving Practice. Curr Dev Nutr. 2020 Feb;4(2):nzaa001. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzaa001. eCollection 2020 Feb. PubMed PMID: 32025614; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6992465.

Lazo-Porras M, Prutsky GJ, Barrionuevo P, Tapia JC, Ugarte-Gil C, Ponce OJ, Acuña-Villaorduña A, Domecq JP, De la Cruz-Luque C, Prokop LJ, Málaga G. World Health Organization (WHO) antibiotic regimen against other regimens for the treatment of leprosy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Infect Dis. 2020 Jan 20;20(1):62. doi: 10.1186/s12879-019-4665-0. PubMed PMID: 31959113; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6971933.

Ruiz-Grosso P, Cachay R, de la Flor A, Schwalb A, Ugarte-Gil C. Association between tuberculosis and depression on negative outcomes of tuberculosis treatment: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2020;15(1):e0227472. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227472. eCollection 2020. PubMed PMID: 31923280; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6953784.

Last Updated: 04 December 2023