Suresh Boppana, MD

Suresh Boppana is a Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology and Hugh Dillon MD Endowed Professor in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has been studying the natural history and pathogenesis of maternal and congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection for over 25 years. Dr. Boppana’s work challenged the dogma by documenting the importance of non-primary maternal infections in the overall disease burden from congenital CMV infection. His research has also documented the impact of congenital CMV in highly seropositive settings including developing countries. As the co-PI of large multicenter study newborn CMV screening study, he reported on low sensitivity of dried blood spot PCR assay and the utility of a highly sensitive and specific saliva real-time PCR assay for newborn CMV screening. His current work focuses on understanding the immune correlates protection using the acquisition of CMV infection using the human breast milk transmission setting as a model. He is also the co-medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at the Children’s of Alabama since 2016 and is committed to improve patient outcomes by encouraging optimal antimicrobial therapy and reduce the emergence of resistant organisms. He also directed the Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship Program at UAB and Children's of Alabama between 2000 and 2010. Dr. Boppana serves on the Board of the National CMV Foundation, an advocacy organization.