Dr. Emma Kileel is a public health researcher and epidemiologist studying the intersection of HIV and cardiometabolic disease. Specifically, her research explores how long-term HIV treatments impact cardiometabolic health, weight, and chronic disease management. Her previous research helped establish a link between integrase strand transfer inhibitors, the preferred first-line treatment in most HIV clinical guidelines, and elevated risks of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Emma is the CTN+ Mark Wainberg Fellow, based at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, where she will work under the supervision of Dr. Marina Klein. Her postdoctoral project, “ART-Associated Cardiometabolic Disease and Healthy Aging in People Living with HIV: Identifying Targeted Pathways for Prevention and Longevity,” addresses a pressing question for an aging population of people with HIV: as people living with HIV live longer on effective antiretroviral therapy, how can clinicians better prevent and manage the cardiometabolic complications that come with long-term treatment?
The project has two complementary aims. The first investigates the biologic mechanisms underlying the integrase inhibitor cardiometabolic risk, focusing on adiponectin, a metabolic hormone that helps regulate insulin sensitivity and vascular health, as a potential pathway linking integrase inhibitors to changes in blood pressure and hypertension risk. This work will also examine whether these mechanisms differ by biologic sex, an important consideration given known sex differences in both HIV treatment response and cardiometabolic disease.
The second aim turns to prevention and management, comparing the effectiveness of GLP-1 receptor agonists against other second-line diabetes therapies on a range of downstream cardiometabolic outcomes: weight, glycemic control, triglycerides, blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.
Together, these studies aim to inform clinical guidelines for cardiometabolic care in HIV and support the development of targeted prevention strategies, with the ultimate goal of promoting long-term health, vitality, and longevity for people living with HIV.
