Merlin Robb, MD

Merlin L Robb, MD

Name: Merlin L Robb, MD

USU Department of Primary Appointment: 
Pediatrics
Title: 
Deputy Director for Clinical Research, US Military HIV Research Program (MHRP)
Faculty Rank: 
Associate Professor
Location: 
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD

Research Interests:
molecular biology; neutralizing antibody assay development; perinatal and pediatric HIV research; HIV correlates of protection research; HIV vaccine and immuno-therapeutic trials

Email: 
mrobb@hivresearch.org
Office Phone: 
(301) 500-3603

Education

1981 M.D. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
1977 B.A. San Diego State University, CA

Biography

Dr. Merlin Robb is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the United States Army Medical Corps. A board-certified pediatric infectious disease specialist, he completed his internship and residency at Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash., and was a Fellow in Pediatrics Infectious Diseases at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 1988 to 1990. He has served as the Henry Jackson Foundation HIV Program Director for the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) since 2002, after serving as Chief of Vaccine Research at MHRP. Dr. Robb was a leader in the RV144 HIV vaccine trial in Thailand that showed the first sign of efficacy, and the follow up studies that identified two correlates of risk. He is currently leading efforts to find a functional cure for HIV utilizing the acute infections cohort he developed.

Representative publications, projects, and/or deployments

  • Protocol Chair, landmark acute HIV infection study RV217 that monitors a prospective cohort of individuals from East Africa and Thailand at high risk for HIV infection
  • Member, “DAIDS African Therapeutic Trials Data and Safety Monitoring Board,” National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, October 2012 to present.
  • Member, “DAIDS Prevention Trials Data and Safety Monitoring Board,” National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, April, 2013 to present
  • Member Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Institutional Review Board, June 2015 to present

Bibliography

  • Robb ML, Eller LA, Kibuuka H, Rono K, Maganga L, Nitayaphan S, Kroon E, Sawe FK, Sinei S, Sriplienchan S, Jagodzinski LL, Malia J, Manak M, de Souza MS, Tovanabutra S, Sanders-Buell E, Rolland M, Dorsey-Spitz J, Eller MA, Milazzo M, Li Q, Lewandowski A, Wu H, Swann E, O'Connell RJ, Peel S, Dawson P, Kim JH, Michael NL; RV 217 Study Team. 2016. Prospective study of acute HIV-1 infection in adults in East Africa and Thailand. N Engl J Med 2016 May 18. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID: 27192360.
  • Borducchi EN, Cabral C, Stephenson KE, Liu J, Abbink P, Ng'ang'a D, Nkolola JP, Brinkman AL, Peter L, Lee BC, Jimenez J, Jetton D, Mondesir J, Mojta S, Chandrashekar A, Molloy K, Alter G, Gerold JM, Hill AL, Lewis MG, Pau MG, Schuitemaker H, Hesselgesser J, Geleziunas R, Kim JH, Robb ML, Michael NL, Barouch DH. 2016. Ad26/MVA therapeutic vaccination with TLR7 stimulation in SIV-infected rhesus monkeys. Nature. 2016 Dec 8; 540(7632):284-287. PMID: 27841870.
  • Ananworanich J, Chomont N, Eller LA, Kroon E, Tovanabutra S, Bose M, Nau M, Fletcher JL, Tipsuk S, Vandergeeten C, O'Connell RJ, Pinyakorn S, Michael N, Phanuphak N, Robb ML; RV217 and RV254/SEARCH010 study groups. 2016. HIV DNA set point is rapidly established in acute HIV infection and dramatically reduced by early ART. EBioMedicine. 2016 Jul 20. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.07.024. PMID: 27460436.
  • Merlin L. Robb, Supachai Rerks-Ngarm, Sorachai Nitayaphan, Punnee Pitisuttithum, Jaranit Kaewkungwal, Prayura Kunasol, Chirasak Khamboonruang, Prasert Thongcharoen, Patricia Morgan, Michael Benenson, Robert Paris, Joseph Chiu, Elizabeth Adams, Donald Francis, Sanjay Gurunathan, Jim Tartaglia, Peter Gilbert, Don Stablein, Nelson L. Michael, Jerome H. Kim. Post-hoc analysis of potential co-variates of efficacy in the Thai HIV Vaccine Trial: Risk and time co-variates of efficacy in RV 144. Lancet Infect Dis.
  • Danielle V. Clark, Hannah Kibuuka, Monica Millard, Salim Wakabi, Luswa Lukwago, Alison Taylor, Michael A. Eller, Leigh Anne Eller, Nelson L. Michael, Anna N. Honko, Gene G. Olinger, Jr. Randal J. Schoepp, Matthew J. Hepburn, Lisa E. Hensley, Merlin L. Robb. Long-term sequelae following Ebola virus disease in Bundibugyo, Uganda: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2015 Apr 21. pii: S1473-3099(15)70152-0. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(15)70152-0. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 25910637
  • Hannah Kibuuka, Nina M. Berkowitz, Monica Millard, Mary E. Enama, Allan Tindikahwa, Arthur B. Sekiziyivu, Pamela Costner, Sandra Sitar, Deline Glover, Zonghui Hu, Gyan Joshi, Daphne Stanley, Meghan Kunchai, Robert T. Bailer, Richard A. Koup, Gary J. Nabel, John R. Mascola, Nancy J. Sullivan, Barney S. Graham, Mario Roederer, Nelson L. Michael, Merlin L. Robb, Julie E. Ledgerwood and the RV 247 Study Team. Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus Glycoprotein DNA Vaccines Evaluated Individually and Concomitantly are Saf
  • Haynes BF, Gilbert PB, McElrath MJ, Zolla-Pazner S, Tomaras GD, Alam SM, Evans DT, Montefiori DC, Karnasuta C, Sutthent R, Liao HX, DeVico AL, Lewis GK, Williams C, Pinter A, Fong Y, Janes H, DeCamp A, Huang Y, Rao M, Billings E, Karasavvas N, Robb ML, Ngauy V, de Souza MS, Paris R, Ferrari G, Bailer RT, Soderberg KA, Andrews C, Berman PW, Frahm N, De Rosa SC, Alpert MD, Yates NL, Shen X, Koup RA, Pitisuttithum P, Kaewkungwal J, Nitayaphan S, Rerks-Ngarm S, Michael NL, Kim JH. Immune-correlates analysis of
  • Rerks-Ngarm S, Pitisuttithum P, Nitayaphan S, Kaewkungwal J, Chiu J, Paris R, Premsri N, Namwat C, de Souza M, Adams E, Benenson M, Gurunathan S, Tartaglia J, McNeil JG, Francis DP, Stablein D, Birx DL, Chunsuttiwat S, Khamboonruang C, Thongcharoen P, Robb ML, Michael NL, Kunasol P, Kim JH; MOPH-TAVEG Investigators. Vaccination with ALVAC and AIDSVAX to prevent HIV-1 infection in Thailand. N Eng J Med. 2009 Dec 3;361(23):2209-20. Epub 2009 Oct 20.