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Dr Síle Molloy

Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology
Dr Molloy's research focuses on improving outcomes for patients with advanced HIV

Dr Molloy is a Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology working on Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) treatment trials and implementation projects running across a number of countries in Africa. Her teaching portfolio includes teaching and curriculum development for Neglected Tropical Diseases, Global Health Diseases and Clinical Trials modules for both under graduate and post graduate students.

Dr Molloy joined St George's, University of London in 2012 as a post doctoral researcher, project manager and epidemiologist for the ACTA trial.  She was promoted to Lecturer in Epidemiology in 2018 and to Senior Lecturer in 2022 and has since been a co-investigator on the Ambition trial and on the DREAMM and TRIP projects based in sites in South Africa (SA), Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda and Cameroon. She is currently co-Chief Investigator of the EFFECT Trial which aims to improve treatment regimens to prevent the development of cryptococcal meningitis in Advanced HIV patients in SA and Tanzania. She is also involved in a package of work led by DNDi aiming to develop a sustained-release formulation of flucytosine to simplify inpatient and outpatient treatment of cryptococcal infections (Phase II trials: co-CI for 5FC-PROTECT and co-I for 5FC HIV Crypto)

Dr Molloy completed her MSc in Medical Statistics with distinction at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK in 2018 and she previously worked as an Epidemiologist for the MalariaGEN consortium in Oxford University. She obtained her PhD in Parasitology at Trinity College Dublin in 2009, working on the epidemiology of Cryptosporidium species in a cohort of children in Nigeria.

She is a Springboard Fellow with the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) and an Associate Fellow at the Higher Education Academy, UK. She is a mentor on the both the AMS and SGUL mentorship programs. 

Dr Molloy’s research focuses on conducting phase II/III clinical trials (EFFECT/5FC PROTECT/5FC HIV-Crypto/ ACTA /Ambition) and implementation/research projects (IMPRINT/subEFFECT/SHARE-CM/DREAMM/TRIP) to improve outcomes for patients with Cryptococcal meningitis (CM) and advanced HIV. Her main research interests are in improving the standard of care and access to treatment for CM patients in resource-limited settings. Dr Molloy is currently co-lead Chief Investigator (CI) for the EFFECT trial, aiming to improve outcomes for patients with advanced HIV by enhancing treatment to prevent the development of Cryptococcal meningitis in this patient group. 

She is also an active member of the CryptoMAG group and AMNET network. CryptoMAG is an advocacy group which aims to reduce CM related mortality through roll-out of effective screening programmes and improving access to essential antifungals and diagnostics tests across SSA. The group consists of members from St George's, University of London, MSF, WHO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) while AMNET (African Meningitis Trials Network) brings together African and European Researchers whose main aim is to reduce meningitis related mortality in Africa through collaborative clinical trials.

CURRENT FUNDING

Project Title: Fluconazole plus flucytosine vs fluconazole alone for cryptococcal antigen-positive patients identified through screening: A randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial

Role: co-Chief Investigator

Source of Funds: MRC Joint Global Health Trials (£4.7m) (April 2021 - March 2025)

Collaborators: NIMR, Tanzania; LSTM/LSHTM, UK; WITS/UCT, SA.

Description of Study: A pragmatic phase III RCT designed to determine whether combined oral therapy of fluconazole plus flucytosine improves outcomes, compared to fluconazole alone, for cryptococcal antigen (CrAg)-positive HIV-seropositive patients identified during CrAg screening in South Africa and Tanzania.

 

Project Title: Pathophysiology and clinical outcomes of subclinical cryptococcal meningitis (CM) (subEFFECT - Subclinical Cryptococcal Meningitis in patients excluded from participation in the EFFECT Study)

Role: Springboard Fellow

Source of Funds: Academy of Medical Sciences (£99,7200) (April 2022 – March 2024)

Description of Study: A prospective cohort study aiming to investigate the implications of subclinical CM on health and clinical outcomes over 6 months in 4 sites in SA and 3 in Tanzania. 

 

Project Title: Improved flucytosine formulation for the treatment of meningitis in advanced HIV disease

Role: co-Investigator (DNDi is the lead organisation) leading the implementation of the Phase II study with colleagues in Malawi and Tanzania

Source of Funds: European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) (€3.7 million) (2020-2024).

Collaborators: DNDi, UNC Project (Malawi), NIMR (Tanzania), FARMOVS (SA), Luxemburg Institute of Health.

Description of Study: A package of work, including Phase I and Phase II trials in SA, Malawi and Tanzania, aiming to develop a slow release formulation of flucytosine for treatment of Cryptococcal meningitis.

 

Project Title: Global Health Group on HIV-associated Fungal Infections (IMPRINT).

Role: co-Investigator, WP2 co-lead: Screening, EFFECT sub-studies, Study epidemiologist

Source of Funds: NIHR (£3 million) (2022 – 2026)

Collaborators: WITS/UCT (SA); MLW, Malawi; MSF, DNDi, LSTM/LSHTM, UK; Oxford CRU, Vietnam; Botswana-Harvard partnership, Botswana

Description of Study: This proposal brings together a team of leading researchers, clinical leaders, and NGO partners (MSF and DNDi), as well as civil society and patient representatives, to improve the diagnosis and treatment of these HIV-associated fungal infections.

 

Project Title: Implementing short-course treatment regimens for HIV-associated CM in sub-saharan Africa (SHARE-CM).

Role: co-Investigator

Source of Funds: CDC ($250,000 year 1 - up to $1m over 5 years in total) (2022 – 2027).

Collaborators: LSHTM, UK; BHP, Botswana; MLW, Malawi; IDI, Uganda; University of Zimbabwe.

Description of Study: This work aims to implement Implementing short-course treatment regimens for HIV-associated CM across 4 countries in sub-saharan Africa as shown to be effective through our recent clinical trial work.

 

Research group

  • Professor Thomas Harrison
  • Jack Adams
  • Dr Rachel Wake
  • Dr Angela Loyse
  • Dr Tihana Bicanic

 

Collaborations

  • Module co-lead and lecturer for Clinical Trials module on the Translational Medicine MSc
  • Module creator and lecturer for Neglected Tropical Diseases module for 3rd year undergraduate students
  • Module co-lead and lecturer for Global Health Diseases course for undergraduate and MSc students
  • Lecturer on the Research Methods module for post graduate students

 

Dr Molloy was also involved in developing a short course in Clinical Trials for team members of the Ambition trial, which was run in Botswana in 2018 and has supervised research projects for BSc ad MSc students. She is a trainer of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and has delivered GCP courses to Botswana ethics committees and clinical trial research teams in Africa and during her PhD worked as a teaching assistant for Biology students in Trinity College Dublin and pre-med students in Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.

She received an Education Excellence Award for curriculum design, for the MSc Translational Medicine module 'Clinical Trials’ in 2021. 

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