Andrea Conroy, PhD

Dr. Conroy's research centers on understanding the impact of infections on global women’s and children’s health. Her goal is to develop new tools to identify patients at risk of adverse clinical outcomes who may benefit from targeted therapies. She received her training at the University of Toronto in a translational global health research environment focusing on malaria pathogenesis and the development of new therapeutics for severe malaria. Dr. Conroy has been leading research projects in Uganda since 2011 and is the Director of the Indiana University-affiliated CHILD lab in Kampala, Uganda, which is a translational biomedical research laboratory.

 The Conroy lab conducts focuses on the defining the prevalence, etiology, and pathophysiology of acute kidney injury in hospitalized children with specific interests on the impact of acute kidney injury on survival, progression to chronic kidney disease, and neurodevelopmental outcomes across the lifespan. The lab has ongoing collaborations with several investigators across Uganda and leverages samples collected during hospitalization and recovery to define mechanisms of maladaptive kidney repair following injury and understand genetic risk modifiers of kidney disease progression. The lab also focuses on improving the diagnosis of children with acute kidney injury through the evaluation of novel point-of-care diagnostics that can facilitate early identification of children with acute kidney injury and improve clinical management and survival.

Batte A, Berrens ZJ, Sarangam M, Mufumba I, Murphy KJ, Hawkes MT, Conroy AL. Malaria-associated acute kidney injury in African children: prevalence, pathophysiology, impact and management challenges. Intl J Nephrol and Renovasc Dis. 2021. 2021;14:235-253.

Batte A, Starr M, Schwaderer A, Opoka RO, Namazzi R, Phelps Nishiguchi ES, Ssenkusu JM, John CC, Conroy AL. Methods to estimate baseline creatinine and define acute kidney injury in lean Ugandan children with severe malaria: a prospective cohort study. BMC Nephrol 2020. 21:417.

Ouma BJ, Ssenkusu J, Shabani E, Opoka RO, Bangirana P, Idro R, Park GS, Joloba ML, Kain KC, John CC, Conroy AL. Endothelial activation is associated with disease severity, acute kidney injury, and cognitive impairment in pediatric severe malaria. Crit Care Med. 2020 Jun 30. 

Conroy AL, Opoka RO, Bangirana P, Idro R, Ssenkusu J, Datta D, Morgan C, John CC. Acute kidney injury, cognition and chronic kidney disease in severe malaria. BMC Med. 2019 May 21;17(1):98.

Conroy AL, Hawkes M, Morgan C, Elphinstone RE, Barker K, Namasopo S, John CC, Liles WC, Opoka RO, Kain KC. Acute kidney injury is common in pediatric severe malaria and associated with increased mortality. OFID. 2016 Feb. 26;3(2):ofw046.