Collaborative applied science research has concentrated on problems in infectious disease sciences, including identification of immune correlates of protection (surrogate endpoints) in vaccine efficacy trials, as part of the COVID-19 Prevention Network’s (CoVPN) biostatistics response team (e.g., Gilbert et al., 2021; Fong et al., 2022; Hejazi et al., 2023); comparative assessment of the therapeutic efficacy of investigational regimens for multi-drug resistant TB across randomized controlled trials via data fusion and evidence synthesis; and the characterization of Long COVID in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, as part of the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) data resource core and the RECOVER network of biostatisticians.

Long-term collaborations and shorter-term projects have included, among others, assessment of the putative impact of nutrition interventions on child growth faltering and/or stunting (e.g., Mertens et al., 2023b), the environmental health impacts of biodigester cookstove use (Amato et al., 2022), and the differential effects of medications for opioid use disorder (Rudolph et al., 2021).

selected publications

Some representative publications appear below. Please consult Google Scholar or a recent CV for a comprehensive list. Below, the names of lab members appear in bold, including those of trainees and of the PI; the names of frequent collaborators are italicized and underlined.

Amato, H.K., Hemlock, C., Andrejko, K.L., Smith, A.R., Hejazi, N.S., Hubbard, A.E., Verma, S.C., Adhikari, R.K., Pokhrel, D., Smith, K., Graham, J.P. and Pokhrel, A. (2022) Biodigester cookstove interventions and child diarrhea in semi-rural Nepal: A causal analysis of daily observations. Environmental Health Perspectives, 130.

Beentjes, S.V., Méharon, A.M., Kaczmarczyk, J., Cassar, A., Samms, G.L., Hejazi, N.S., Khamseh, A. and Ponting, C.P. (2025) Replicated blood-based biomarkers for myalgic encephalomyelitis not explicable by inactivity. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 1–24.

Benjamin-Chung, J., Mertens, A., Colford Jr., J.M., Hubbard, A.E., van der Laan, M.J., Coyle, J., Sofrygin, O., Cai, W., Nguyen, A., Pokpongkiat, N.N., Djajadi, S., Seth, A., Jilek, W., Jung, E., Chung, E.O., Rosete, S., Hejazi, N., Malenica, I., Li, H., Hafen, R., Subramoney, V., Häggström, J., Norman, T., Brown, K.H., Christian, P., Arnold, B.F. and the ki Child Growth Consortium. (2023) Early-childhood linear growth faltering in low- and middle-income countries. Nature, 621, 550–557.

Benkeser, D., Fong, Y., Janes, H.E., Kelly, E.J., Hirsch, I., Sproule, S., Stanley, A.M., Maaske, J., Villafana, T., Houchens, C.R., Martins, K., Jayashankar, L., Castellino, F., Ayala, V., Petropoulos, C.J., Leith, A., Haugaard, D., Webb, B., Lu, Y., Yu, C., Borate, B., van der Laan, L.W.P., Hejazi, N.S., Carpp, L.N., Randhawa, A.K., Andrasik, M.P., Kublin, J.G., Isaacs, M.B., Makhene, M., Tong, T., Robb, M.L., Corey, L., Neuzil, K.M., Follmann, D., Hoffman, C., Falsey, A.R., Sobieszczyk, M., Koup, R.A., Donis, R.O., Gilbert, P.B. and on behalf of the AstraZeneca AZD1222 Clinical Study Group; the Immune Assays Team; and the United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team. (2023a) Immune correlates analysis of a phase 3 trial of the AZD1222 (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) vaccine. npj Vaccines, 8.

Benkeser, D., Montefiori, D.C., McDermott, A.B., Fong, Y., Janes, H.E., Deng, W., Zhou, H., Houchens, C.R., Martins, K., Jayashankar, L., Castellino, F., Flach, B., Lin, B.C., O’Connell, S., McDanal, C., Eaton, A., Sarzotti-Kelsoe, M., Lu, Y., Yu, C., Borate, B., van der Laan, L.W.P., Hejazi, N.S., Kenny, A., Carone, M., Williamson, B.D., Huynh, C., Miller, J., El Sahly, H.M., Baden, L.R., Frey, S., Malkin, E., Spector, S.A., Andrasik, M.P., Kublin, J.G., Corey, L., Neuzil, K.M., Carpp, L.N., Pajon, R., Follmann, D., Donis, R.O., Koup, R.A., Gilbert, P.B. and on behalf of the Immune Assays Team; Moderna, Inc., Team; Coronavirus Prevention Network (CoVPN)/Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) Team; and the United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team. (2023b) Comparing antibody assays as correlates of protection against COVID-19 in the COVE mRNA-1273 vaccine efficacy trial. Science Translational Medicine, 15.

Carpp, L.N., Hyrien, O., Fong, Y., Benkeser, D., Roels, S., Stieh, D.J., Van Dromme, I., Van Roey, G.A., Kenny, A., Carone, M., McDermott, A.B., Houchens, C.R., Martins, K., Jayashankar, L., Castellino, F., Amoa-Awua, O., Basappa, M., Flach, B., Lin, B.C., Moore, C.R., Naisan, M., Naqvi, M., Narpala, S., O’Connell, S., Mueller, A., Serebryannyy, L., Castro, M., Wang, J., Petropoulos, C.J., Luedtke, A., Lu, Y., Yu, C., Juraska, M., Hejazi, N.S., Wolfe, D.N., Sadoff, J., Gray, G.E., Grinsztejn, B., Goepfert, P.A., Bekker, L.-G., Gaur, A.H., Veloso, V.G., Randhawa, A.K., Andrasik, M.P., Hendriks, J., Truyers, C., Vandebosch, A., Struyf, F., Schuitemaker, H., Douoguih, M., Kublin, J.G., Corey, L., Neuzil, K.M., Follmann, D., Koup, R.A., Donis, R.O., Gilbert, P.B. and on behalf of the Immune Assays Team; the Coronavirus Prevention Network (CoVPN)/ENSEMBLE Team; and the United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team. (2024) Neutralizing antibody correlate of vaccine protection against severe-critical COVID-19 in the ENSEMBLE single-dose Ad26.COV2.S vaccine efficacy trial. Nature Communications, 15.

Fong, Y., Huang, Y., Benkeser, D., Carpp, L.N., Áñez, G., Woo, W., McGarry, A., Dunkle, L.M., Cho, I., Houchens, C.R., Martins, K., Jayashankar, L., Castellino, F., Petropoulos, C.J., Leith, A., Haugaard, D., Webb, B., Lu, Y., Yu, C., Borate, B., van der Laan, L.W.P., Hejazi, N.S., Randhawa, A.K., Andrasik, M.P., Kublin, J.G., Hutter, J., Keshtkar-Jahromi, M., Beresnev, T.H., Corey, L., Neuzil, K.M., Follmann, D., Ake, J.A., Gay, C.L., Kotloff, K.L., Koup, R.A., Donis, R.O., Gilbert, P.B. and on behalf of the Immune Assays Team; Coronavirus Prevention Network (CoVPN)/2019nCov-301 Principal Investigators and Study Team; and the United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team. (2023) Immune correlates analysis of the PREVENT-19 COVID-19 vaccine efficacy clinical trial. Nature Communications, 14.

Fong, Y., McDermott, A.B., Benkeser, D., Roels, S., Stieh, D.J., Vandebosch, A., Le Gars, M., Van Roey, G.A., Houchens, C.R., Martins, K., Jayashankar, L., Castellino, F., Amoa-Awua, O., Basappa, M., Flach, B., Lin, B.C., Moore, C., Naisan, M., Naqvi, M., Narpala, S., O’Connell, S., Mueller, A., Serebryannyy, L., Castro, M., Wang, J., Petropoulos, C.J., Luedtke, A., Hyrien, O., Lu, Y., Yu, C., Borate, B., van der Laan, L.W.P., Hejazi, N.S., Kenny, A., Carone, M., Wolf, D.N., Sadoff, J., Gray, G.E., Grinsztejn, B., Goepfert, P.A., Little, S.J., Paiva de Sousa, L., Maboa, R., Randhawa, A.K., Andrasik, M.P., Hendriks, J., Truyers, C., Struyf, F., Schuitemaker, H., Douoguih, M., Kublin, J.G., Corey, L., Neuzil, K.M., Carpp, L.N., Follmann, D., Gilbert, P.B., Koup, R.A., Donis, R.O. and on behalf of the Immune Assays Team; the Coronavirus Prevention Network (CoVPN)/ENSEMBLE Team; and the United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team. (2022) Immune correlates analysis of the ENSEMBLE single Ad26.COV2.S dose vaccine efficacy clinical trial. Nature Microbiology, 7, 1996–2010.

Gilbert, P.B., Montefiori, D.C., McDermott, A.B., Fong, Y., Benkeser, D., Deng, W., Zhou, H., Houchens, C.R., Martins, K., Jayashankar, L., Castellino, F., Flach, B., Lin, B.C., O’Connell, S., McDanal, C., Eaton, A., Sarzotti-Kelsoe, M., Lu, Y., Yu, C., Borate, B., van der Laan, L.W.P., Hejazi, N.S., Huynh, C., Miller, J., El Sahly, H.M., Baden, L.R., Baron, M., De La Cruz, L., Gay, C., Kalams, S., Kelley, C.F., Kutner, M., Andrasik, M.P., Kublin, J.G., Corey, L., Neuzil, K.M., Carpp, L.N., Pajon, R., Follmann, D., Donis, R.O., Koup, R.A. and on behalf of the Immune Assays Team; Moderna, Inc., Team; Coronavirus Prevention Network (CoVPN)/Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) Team; and the United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team. (2021) Immune correlates analysis of the mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine efficacy clinical trial. Science, 375, 43–50.

Gray, G.E., Bekker, L.-G., Laher, F., Malahleh, M., Allen, M., Moodie, Z., Grunenberg, N., Huang, Y., Grove, D., Prigmore, B., Kee, J.J., Benkeser, D., Hural, J., Innes, C., Lazarus, E., Meintjes, G., Naicker, N., Kalonji, D., Nchabeleng, M., Sebe, M., Singh, N., Kotze, P., Kassim, S., Dubula, T., Naicker, V., Brumskine, W., Ncayiya, C.N., Ward, A.M., Garrett, N., Kistnasami, G., Gaffoor, Z., Selepe, P., Makhoba, P.B., Mathebula, M.P., Mda, P., Adonis, T., Mapetla, K.S., Modibedi, B., Philip, T., Kobane, G., Bentley, C., Ramirez, S., Takuva, S., Jones, M., Sikhosana, M., Atujuna, M., Andrasik, M., Hejazi, N.S., Puren, A., Wiesner, L., Phogat, S., Diaz Granados, C., Koutsoukos, M., Van Der Meeren, O., Barnett, S.W., Kanesa-thasan, N., Kublin, J.G., McElrath, M.J., Gilbert, P.B., Janes, H. and Corey, L. (2021) Vaccine efficacy of ALVAC-HIV and bivalent subtype C gp120–MF59 in adults. The New England Journal of Medicine, 384, 1089–1100.

Hejazi, N.S., Shen, X., Carpp, L.N., Benkeser, D., Follmann, D., Janes, H.E., Baden, L.R., El Sahly, H.M., Deng, W., Zhou, H., Leav, B., Montefiori, D.C. and Gilbert, P.B. (2023) Stochastic interventional approach to assessing immune correlates of protection: Application to the COVE mRNA-1273 vaccine trial. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 137, 28–39.

Huang, Y., Hejazi, N.S., Blette, B., Carpp, L.N., Benkeser, D., Montefiori, D.C., McDermott, A.B., Fong, Y., Janes, H.E., Deng, W., Zhou, H., Houchens, C.R., Martins, K.A., Jayashankar, L., Flach, B., Lin, B.C., O’Connell, S., McDanal, C., Eaton, A., Sarzotti-Kelsoe, M., Lu, Y., Yu, C., Kenny, A., Carone, M., Huynh, C., Miller, J., El Sahly, H.M., Baden, L.R., Jackson, L.A., Campbell, T.B., Clark, J.L., Andrasik, M.P., Kublin, J.G., Corey, L., Neuzil, K.M., Pajon, R., Follmann, D.A., Donis, R.O., Koup, R.A., Gilbert, P.B. and on behalf of the Immune Assays Team; Moderna, Inc., Team; Coronavirus Prevention Network (CoVPN)/Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) Team; and the United States Government (USG)/CoVPN Biostatistics Team. (2023) Stochastic interventional vaccine efficacy and principal surrogate analyses of antibody markers as correlates of protection against symptomatic COVID-19 in the COVE mRNA-1273 trial. Viruses, 15, 2029.

Juraska, M., Early, A.M., Li, L., Schaffner, S.F., Lievens, M., Khorgade, A., Simpkins, B., Hejazi, N.S., Benkeser, D., Wang, Q., Mercer, L.D., Adjei, S., Agbenyega, T., Anderson, S., Ansong, D., Bii, D.K., Buabeng, P.B.Y., English, S., Fitzgerald, N., Grimsby, J., Kariuki, S.K., Otieno, K., Roman, F., Samuels, A.M., Westercamp, N., Ockenhouse, C.F., Ofori-Anyinam, O., Lee, C.K., MacInnis, B.L., Wirth, D.F., Gilbert, P.B. and Neafsey, D.E. (2024) Genotypic analysis of RTS,S/AS01_E malaria vaccine efficacy against parasite infection as a function of dosage regimen and baseline malaria infection status in children aged 5–17 months in ghana and kenya: A longitudinal phase 2b randomised controlled trial. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 24, 1025–1036.

Mertens, A., Benjamin-Chung, J., Colford Jr., J.M., Coyle, J., van der Laan, M.J., Hubbard, A.E., Rosete, S., Malenica, I., Hejazi, N., Sofrygin, O., Cai, W., Li, H., Nguyen, A., Pokpongkiat, N.N., Djajadi, S., Seth, A., Jung, E., Chung, E.O., Jilek, W., Subramoney, V., Hafen, R., Häggström, J., Norman, T., Brown, K.H., Christian, P., Arnold, B.F. and the ki Child Growth Consortium. (2023a) Causes and consequences of child growth faltering in low-resource settings. Nature, 621, 568–576.

Mertens, A., Benjamin-Chung, J., Colford Jr., J.M., Hubbard, A.E., van der Laan, M.J., Coyle, J., Sofrygin, O., Cai, W., Jilek, W., Rosete, S., Nguyen, A., Pokpongkiat, N.N., Djajadi, S., Seth, A., Jung, E., Chung, E.O., Malenica, I., Hejazi, N., Li, H., Hafen, R., Subramoney, V., Häggström, J., Norman, T., Christian, P., Brown, K.H., Arnold, B.F. and the ki Child Growth Consortium. (2023b) Child wasting and concurrent stunting in low- and middle-income countries. Nature, 621, 558–567.

Rudolph, K.E., Dı́az, I., Hejazi, N.S., van der Laan, M.J., Luo, S.X., Shulman, M., Campbell, A., Rotrosen, J. and Nunes, E.V. (2021) Explaining differential effects of medication for opioid use disorder using a novel approach incorporating mediating variables. Addiction, 116, 2094–2103.