Education
- PhD in Biochemical Nutrition, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL.
- MS in Biochemical Nutrition, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL.
- Post-doctoral research in metabolism and epidemiology, University of Miami, School of Medicine, Miami, FL.
Background
Dr. Baum is a Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition at the Robert Stempel School of Public Health, Florida International University. She has been leading the research team that pioneered the concept on the relationship between plasma nutrients, disease progression and mortality in HIV-1 infected cohorts for the last 18 years. Currently, at Florida International University, she is the Principal Investigator of a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded clinical trial “HIV Disease, Drug Abuse, and Nutrient Therapy in Botswana,” conducted in collaboration with the Harvard School of Public Health and the Botswana-Harvard Partnership (BHP).
The purpose of this program is to determine whether supplementation with micronutrients can improve immune function and prolong time to AIDS and/or reduce mortality in HIV infected adults in Botswana, Africa, which currently has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. Dr. Baum is also the Principal Investigator of another NIDA funded clinical trial in Miami, Florida, “Zinc Therapy in HIV Infected Drug Users,” also based on her previous studies that showed that zinc deficiency occurs frequently in HIV infection, and when it does, it predicts HIV related mortality. She has also received a 3-year supplement to this study on “The Effect of Zinc Supplementation on Cytokine Modulation.”
Research
Nutritional Status & Viral Diseases |
