Chief Scientific Officer: Host Directed Therapy
Prof Robert Wallis
Prof Wallis is a physician-scientist with training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and expertise in the development of biologics, vaccines, and small molecules.
Prof Wallis came to Aurum after nearly 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently at Pfizer, where his leadership in anti-infective R&D included the TB candidate sutezolid**. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Infectious Diseases and is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Dr Wallis is presently leading multiple studies of adjunctive host-directed therapies in tuberculosis at Aurum.
Journal Articles
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Dierig, A., Hoelscher, M., Schultz, S., Hoffmann, L., Jarchow-MacDonald, A., Svensson, E.M., Te Brake, L., Aarnoutse, R., Boeree, M., McHugh, T.D. and Wildner, L.M., 2023. A phase IIb, open-label, randomized controlled dose ranging multi-centre trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and exposure-response relationship of different doses of delpazolid in combination with bedaquiline delamanid moxifloxacin in adult subjects with newly diagnosed, uncomplicated, smear-positive, drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis. Trials, 24(1), pp.1-15.
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Simmons, J.D., Dill-McFarland, K.A., Stein, C.M., Van, P.T., Chihota, V., Ntshiqa, T., Maenetje, P., Peterson, G.J., Benchek, P., Nsereko, M. and Velen, K., 2022. Monocyte Transcriptional Responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Associate with Resistance to Tuberculin Skin Test and Interferon Gamma Release Assay Conversion. Msphere, pp.e00159-22.
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Chihota, V.N., Ntshiqa, T., Maenetje, P., Mansukhani, R., Velen, K., Hawn, T.R., Wallis, R., Grant, A.D., Churchyard, G.J. and Fielding, K., 2022. Resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among highly TB exposed South African gold miners. PloS one, 17(3), p.e0265036.
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Wallis, R.S., Ginindza, S., Beattie, T., Arjun, N., Likoti, M., Sebe, M., Edward, V.A., Rassool, M., Ahmed, K., Fielding, K. and Ahidjo, B.A., 2022. Lung and blood early biomarkers for host-directed tuberculosis therapies: Secondary outcome measures from a randomized controlled trial. Plos one, 17(2), p.e0252097.
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Wallis, R.S., Ginindza, S., Beattie, T., Arjun, N., Sebe, M., Likoti, M., Edward, V.A., Rassool, M., Ahmed, K., Fielding, K. and Ahidjo, B.A., 2021. Adjunctive host-directed therapies for pulmonary tuberculosis: a prospective, open-label, phase 2, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
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Bobadilla-del-Valle, M., Leal-Vega, F., Torres-Gonzalez, P., Ordaz-Vazquez, A., Garcia-Garcia, M.D.L., Tovar-Vargas, M., Delgado-Sanchez, G., Guerra De Blas, P.D.C., Wallis, R.S., Ponce-De-León, A. and Sifuentes-Osornio, J., 2021. Mycobacterial Growth Inhibition Assay (MGIA) as a Host Directed Diagnostic Tool for the Evaluation of the Immune Response in Subjects Living With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, 11, p.414.
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Bobadilla-del-Valle, M., Leal-Vega, F., Torres-Gonzalez, P., Ordaz-Vazquez, A., Garcia-Garcia, M.D.L., Tovar-Vargas, M., Delgado-Sanchez, G., Guerra De Blas, P.D.C., Wallis, R.S., Ponce-De-León, A. and Sifuentes-Osornio, J., 2021. Mycobacterial Growth Inhibition Assay (MGIA) as a Host Directed Diagnostic Tool for the Evaluation of the Immune Response in Subjects Living With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology, 11, p.414.
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Chimoyi, L., Velen, K., Churchyard, G.J., Wallis, R., Lewis, J.J. and Charalambous, S., 2020. An ecological study to evaluate the association of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on cases of SARS-CoV2 infection and mortality from COVID-19. PloS one, 15(12), p.e0243707.
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Auld, S.C., Kornfeld, H., Maenetje, P., Mlotshwa, M., Chase, W., Vangu, M.D.T., Torigian, D.A., Wallis, R.S., Churchyard, G. and Bisson, G.P., 2021. Pulmonary restriction predicts long-term pulmonary impairment in people with HIV and tuberculosis. BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 21(1), pp.1-10.
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Chimoyi, L., Velen, K., Churchyard, G.J., Wallis, R., Lewis, J.J. and Charalambous, S., 2020. An ecological study to evaluate the association of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on cases of SARS-CoV2 infection and mortality from COVID-19. PloS one, 15(12), p.e0243707.
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Auld, S.C., Maenetje, P., Ravimohan, S., Weissman, D., Ncube, I., Mlotshwa, M., Ratsela, N., Chase, W., Vangu, M.D.T., Wallis, R. and Churchyard, G., 2020. Declines in lung function after antiretroviral therapy initiation in adults with human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis: a potential manifestation of respiratory immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 70(8), pp.1750-1753.
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Ravimohan, S., Maenetje, P., Auld, S.C., Ncube, I., Mlotshwa, M., Chase, W., Tiemessen, C.T., Vangu, M.D.T., Wallis, R.S., Churchyard, G., Weissman, D., Kornfeld, H., Bisson, G.P., 2019. A common NLRC4 gene variant associates with inflammation and pulmonary function in human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis. Clinical Infectious Diseases: an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
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Ravimohan, S., Auld, S.C., Maenetje, P., Ratsela, N., Mlotshwa, M., Ncube, I., Smith, J.P., Vangu, M.D.T., Sebe, M., Kossenkov, A. and Weissman, D., Wallis, R.S., Churchyard, G., Kornfeld, H., Bisson, G,P, 2019. Lung injury on antiretroviral therapy in adults with human immunodeficiency Virus/Tuberculosis. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 70(9), pp.1845-1854.
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Imperial, M.Z., Nahid, P., Phillips, P.P., Davies, G.R., Fielding, K., Hanna, D., Hermann, D., Wallis, R.S., Johnson, J.L., Lienhardt, C. and Savic, R.M., 2018. A patient-level pooled analysis of treatment-shortening regimens for drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis. Nature medicine, 24(11), pp.1708-1715.
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Rachow, A., Ivanova, O., Wallis, R., Charalambous, S., Jani, I., Bhatt, N., Kampmann, B., Sutherland, J., Ntinginya, N.E., Evans, D. and Lönnroth, K., Niemann, S.,Ulrich, E., Schaible, Geldmacher, C., Sanne, I., Hoelscher, M., and Churchyard, G., 2019. TB sequel: incidence, pathogenesis and risk factors of long-term medical and social sequelae of pulmonary TB–a study protocol. BMC pulmonary medicine, 19(1), p.4.
