PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Dr. Hel obtained his M.Sc. degree (honors) at Charles University, Prague, a Ph.D. degree in experimental medicine and immunology (honors) at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda in the laboratory of Dr. G. Franchini. He joined the UAB faculty in 2003 to take advantage of the UAB Center for AIDS Research. Dr. Hel currently serves as a tenured professor at the UAB Department of Pathology and a senior researcher in several centers, including the Center for AIDS Research, Comprehensive Cancer Center, and others.

Dr. Hel’s long-standing research interest is in understanding the pathogenic and immunological mechanisms of infectious diseases, mucosal immunology, cancer immunology, immunodeficiencies, and vaccine development. A major part of his research focuses on the search for strategies that may help us to treat or prevent HIV-1/AIDS. He served as a PI or Project leader on > 10 NIH-funded grants (R01, PO1, R21), Howard Hughes Medical Institute Junior Faculty Award, and various other awards. He has extensive experience in leading clinical research trials focusing on HIV-1immunology and the effect of hormonal contraception on the immune system. Dr. Hel has published over 45 publications in peer-reviewed including Nature Medicine, PLOS Pathogens, JAIDS, J. Immunol, Endocrinology, and others. He serves as an editor and ad hoc reviewer for multiple scientific journals, including Blood, JAIDS, PLOS Pathogens, J. Immunol, and others.

Nationally, he serves as ad hoc member of multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) Study Sections and on the Research Evaluation and Decision Panel of the AIDS and Cancer Specimen Resource (ACSR). International service is demonstrated by serving on the Creative and Novel Ideas in HIV Research Committee of the International AIDS Society, as an evaluator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Scholarship, as a consultant for World Health Organization (WHO), USAID, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as an ad hoc member of grant evaluation committees of the Ministry of Education of Czech Republic, Czech Science Foundation, and South African Medical Research Council. He has participated in the organization of multiple clinical trials in the USA and Zambia.