Vijayakumar Velu, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, with a joint appointment as associate professor in the Division of Microbiology and Immunology at Emory National Primate Research Center. He is a member of the Cancer Immunology Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.
Dr. Velu has extensive expertise in viral immunology and pathogenesis, as well as the development of vaccine and therapeutic strategies for HIV/AIDS.
Education
Dr. Velu earned his PhD in medical microbiology and immunology from the University of Madras in Chennai, India, and holds a Master of Science in microbiology from Madurai Kamaraj University in India. He completed postdoctoral training in HIV immunology, pathogenesis and vaccine development at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Titles & Roles
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Emory University School of Medicine
Associate Professor, Division of Microbiology and Immunology
Emory National Primate Research Center
Research
Dr. Velu’s laboratory has an outstanding record of productive research in areas of high relevance to HIV, including vaccination, therapy, pathogenesis and mucosal immunology, using HIV-infected human cohorts and nonhuman primate models such as rhesus macaques. In addition, his lab studies immune responses in human papillomavirus-related cervical and anal cancer in people living with HIV. These efforts focus on the immunologic underpinnings of HPV infection in this population and their associations with the microbiome, periodontal disease, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions and social determinants linked to lesions most likely to progress to cancer.
M Govender, J Das, FR Hopkins, C Svanberg, J Nordgren, M Hagbom, J Klingström, Å Nilsdotter-Augustinsson, YK Yong, V Velu, S Raju, J Sjöwall, EM Shankar, S Nyström, M Larsson
