Awewura Kwara, MD, MB, ChB, MPH, TM

Dr. Kwara is a professor of medicine within the Division of Infectious Diseases & Global Medicine. He is an Infectious Diseases Specialist with broad expertise in general infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS and travel medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School and master’s in public health and tropical medicine degree from Tulane University. Dr. Kwara completed Internal Medicine Residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and an Infectious Disease Fellowship at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. He is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. He is also certified in Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers’ Health.

Dr. Kwara’s research is focused on clinical pharmacology of antiretroviral and antituberculosis therapy in persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) with tuberculosis (TB) or hepatitis B virus (HBV) coinfection. He is the PI of NIH that seeks to investigate the pharmacokinetics, drug-drug interactions and pharmacogenetic determinants of HIV, HBV and TB treatment outcomes. His work with collaborators in the US and Ghana seeks to unravel the molecular basis for the inter-individual variability in TB, HBV and HIV drugs pharmacokinetics, and drug-drug interactions in individuals with HIV and TB coinfection. Dr. Kwara collaborates with colleagues at the Center for Pharmacogenenomics in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translation Research at UF College of Pharmacy. Beyond the field of HIV therapeutics, our research could inform how pharmacogenomics and/or applied pharmacokinetics can be used to optimize the treatment outcome of common infectious diseases at the individual and population levels.