Center for
Global Health

Scholar

Languages spoken - English (native), French (intermediate)

BIO STATEMENT

Dr. Jennifer Cohn, MD, MPH is an infectious disease physician focusing on improving access to and uptake of effective health products and models of care in low- and middle-income countries. She currently serves as the Director, Global Access for the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP). Before joining GARDP, Jennifer served as Senior Director of Innovation at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and as the Medical Coordinator for the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Access Campaign. Jennifer has served on international advisory groups for TB, HIV, non-communicable diseases and viral hepatitis. She has published over 90 papers in peer-reviewed medical journals.

RECENT GLOBAL HEALTH PROJECTS

Pediatric TB:

I, with my team including local investigators, designed and implemented a 10-country implementation and research project to introduce interventions (including decentralization, integration of TB screening and diagnosis into pediatric outpatient and inpatient care, community-based contact tracing and community-based initiation of latent TB infection treatment, and introduction of new child-friendly dispersible fixed-dose combination TB treatment) to improve the care of pediatric TB infection and disease. We carried out operational research across all 10 countries, as well as two separate multi-country cluster-randomized trials to evaluate 1) the impact on case detection and 2) the impact of community-based screening and latent TB infection treatment on the uptake of latent TB infection treatment. Cost-effectiveness analyses were also carried out. The evidence generated resulted in updated WHO operational guidance as well as the integration of key intervention components into country guidelines and practices.

Access to new antibiotics:

Most recently, I have focused on antimicrobial resistance in my work with the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership. My current work and research focuses on access to and appropriate use of both new antibiotics and repurposed antibiotics for the treatment of drug-resistant infections in low- and middle-income countries. With this initiative I have supported the licensing of new antibiotics as well as led multi-disciplinary and international teams to support the technology transfer of antibiotics to lower-cost manufacturers and also supported the development of partnerships with academia, civil society, and ministries of health to identify and address evidence gaps to introduce new antibiotics. I have spearheaded collaborative partnership agreements with key entities including the Global Drug Facility, for pooled procurement and stockpiling, and with the Pan-American Health Organization to support the introduction and appropriate use of new antibiotics. I have also worked with the WHO to successfully open the WHO Prequalification Programme to cefiderocol, and by extension, other antibiotics to treat drug-resistant bacteria.

Finally, I have collaborated with entities including the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research Chandigarh, the South African Ministerial Advisory Council for AMR and others to develop introduction and training pathways to support the introduction of new antibiotics. In this work I am leading or collaborating on a range of studies including: 1) Susceptibility testing of local isolates in 38 low and middle-income countries; 2) Pre-clinical studies to determine the optimal use of cefiderocol in combination with other antibiotics or beta-lactamase inhibitors for difficult to treat resistance patterns; 3) A multi-country study of the introduction of cefiderocol partnering with local academic medical centers in India and South Africa; 4) Cost effectiveness analysis of cefiderocol use in two middle-income countries.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Aitcheson N, Sacks E, Nyamundaya TH, Muchuchuti C, Cohn J. The Cascade of Care for Early Infant Diagnosis in Zimbabwe: Point of Care HIV Testing at Birth and 6-8 Weeks. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2024 Mar 1;43(3):e87-e91. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000004198. Epub 2024 Jan 18. PMID: 38241648.

Bamford A, Masini T, Williams P, Sharland M, Gigante V, Dixit D, Sati H, Huttner B, Bin Nisar Y, Cappello B, Were W, Cohn J, Penazzato M; PADO-antibiotics participants. Tackling the threat of antimicrobial resistance in neonates and children: outcomes from the first WHO-convened Paediatric Drug Optimisation exercise for antibiotics. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2024 Jun;8(6):456-466. doi: 10.1016/S2352-4642(24)00048-8. Epub 2024 Apr 20. PMID: 38648808.

Laxminarayan R, Impalli I, Rangarajan R, Cohn J, Ramjeet K, Trainor BW, Strathdee S, Sumpradit N, Berman D, Wertheim H, Outterson K, Srikantiah P, Theuretzbacher U. Expanding antibiotic, vaccine, and diagnostics development and access to tackle antimicrobial resistance. Lancet. 2024 Jun 8;403(10443):2534-2550. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00878-X. Epub 2024 May 23. PMID: 38797178.

Pandey AK, Cohn J, Nampoothiri V, Gadde U, Ghataure A, Kakkar AK, Gupta YK, Malhotra S, Mbamalu O, Mendelson M, Märtson AG, Singh S, Tängdén T, Shafiq N, Charani E. A systematic review of antibiotic drug shortages and the strategies employed for managing these shortages. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2024 Sep 26:S1198-743X(24)00455-5. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2024.09.023. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39341418.

Bhandari RK, Pandey AK, Malhotra S, Kakkar AK, Singh S, Cohn J, Holmes A, Charani E, Shafiq N. Addressing Challenges in Antibiotic Access: Barriers, Implications and Strategies for Solution. Pharmaceut Med. 2024 Nov;38(6):387-397. doi: 10.1007/s40290-024-00538-7. Epub 2024 Oct 19. PMID: 39427106.

Bonnet M, Vasiliu A, Tchounga BK, Cuer B, Fielding K, Ssekyanzi B, Tchakounte Youngui B, Cohn J, Dodd PJ, Tiendrebeogo G, Tchendjou P, Simo L, Okello RF, Kuate Kuate A, Turyahabwe S, Atwine D, Graham SM, Casenghi M; CONTACT study group. Effectiveness of a community-based approach for the investigation and management of children with household tuberculosis contact in Cameroon and Uganda: a cluster-randomised trial. Lancet Glob Health. 2023 Dec;11(12):e1911-e1921. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(23)00430-8. Epub 2023 Oct 30. PMID: 37918417.

Cohn J et al. Triple elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis in Sub-Saharan Africa: The time is now. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2021. first/blt.20.272559.pdf?sfvrsn=18176591_3

Abelman R, Alons C, Stockman J, Teri I, Grimsrud A, Ombija M, Makwindi C, Odionyi J, Tumbare E, Longwe B, Bonou M, Songoro J, Mugumya L, Cohn J. Implementation of differentiated service delivery for pediatric HIV care and treatment: opportunities, challenges and experience from seven sub-Saharan African countries. Fam Med Community Health. 2020 Sep;8(3):e000393. doi: 10.1136/fmch-2020-000393. PMID: 32873598; PMCID: PMC7467519

Sacks E, Khumalo P, Tsabedze B, Montgomery W, Mtheethwa N, Nhlabatsi B, Masuku T, Cohn J and Chouraya C.. "The right time is just after birth": acceptability of point-of-care birth testing in Eswatini: qualitative results from infant caregivers, health care workers, and policymakers. BMC Pediatr. 2020;20(1):347. Published 2020 Jul 15. doi:10.1186/s12887-020-02242-2

Cohn J, Ake J, Moorhouse M, Godfrey C. Sex Differences in the Treatment of HIV [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 11]. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep. 2020;10.1007/s11904-020-00499-x. doi:10.1007/s11904-020-00499-x

Mofenson LM, Cohn J, Sacks E. Challenges in the Early Infant HIV Diagnosis and Treatment Cascade. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2020;84 Suppl 1:S1-S4. doi:10.1097/QAI.0000000000002366

Clemens SL, Macneal KD, Alons CL, Cohn JE. Screening Algorithms to Reduce Burden of Pediatric HIV Testing: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis [published online ahead of print, 2020 May 21]. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2020;10.1097/INF.0000000000002715. doi:10.1097/INF.0000000000002715

Mafaune HW, Sacks E, Chadambuka A, Musarandega R, Tachiwenyika E, Simmonds FM, Nyamundaya T, Cohn J, Mahomva A, Mushavi A. Effectiveness of Maternal Transmission Risk Stratification in Identification of Infants for HIV Birth Testing: Lessons From Zimbabwe. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2020;84 Suppl 1:S28-S33. doi:10.1097/QAI.0000000000002373

Alemnji G, Peter T, Vojnov L, Alexandre H, Zeh C, Cohn J, Watts DH, de Lussigny S. Building and Sustaining Optimized Diagnostic Networks to Scale-up HIV Viral Load and Early Infant Diagnosis. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2020;84 Suppl 1:S56-S62. doi:10.1097/QAI.0000000000002367

Khumalo PN, Sacks E, Chouraya C, Tsabedze B, Masuku T, Nyoni G, Zikalala T, Nhlabatsi B, Mthethwa N, Cohn J. The Cascade of Care From Routine Point-of-Care HIV Testing at Birth: Results From an 18-Months Pilot Program in Eswatini. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2020;84 Suppl 1:S22-S27. doi:10.1097/QAI.0000000000002380

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated: 28 January 2025