43672-Khaitan, Alka

Alka Khaitan, MD

Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Fellowship Program Director, Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health

Phone
(317) 944-7260
Address
705 Riley Hospital Drive
RI 5900
Indianapolis, IN 46202
PubMed:

Bio

Dr. Khaitan is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine and Fellowship Program Director for the Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health.  She is a clinician, educator and physician-scientist. Dr. Khaitan is dedicated to diagnosing and managing infectious diseases in children and cares for patients at Riley Hospital on the General and Immune Compromised Pediatric Infectious Diseases Services. She also provides care for patients with childhood infections and children exposed to and living with HIV in the Riley Outpatient Center. In her role as fellowship program director, she is committed to training the next generation of pediatric infectious disease physicians.

Dr. Khaitan’s research focuses on pediatric HIV, immunology and global health. She aims to better understand the role of inflammation and T cell exhaustion in pediatric HIV pathogenesis and long-term outcomes. She is the Principal Investigator of NIH-funded studies focused on immunopathogenesis in Kenyan children with perinatal HIV. Her work highlights early and persistent inflammation and a myriad of other immune disruptions in children with perinatal HIV, despite successful antiretroviral treatment. She has ongoing collaborative studies to identify immune biomarkers of neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with perinatal HIV exposure.

Dr. Khaitan’s formal education includes a B.S. in Economics from Duke University, medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and Pediatric residency at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital (CWRU). She completed her fellowship training in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at New York University where she then joined the faculty before coming to Indiana University. She leads the Riley Hospital Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Task Force and serves on the Indiana University COVID-19 Treatment Algorithm Committee. She is a member of the HHS Panel on Antiretroviral Therapy and Medical Management of Children Living with HIV, Co-Chair of the International Maternal Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) P2008 ("Phase I/II multisite, randomized, controlled study of monoclonal antibody VRC01 with combination antiretroviral therapy to promote clearance of HIV-1-Infected cells in infants") and an Immunologist on IMPAACT P2028 (“Long-Term Clinical, Immunologic, and Virologic Profiles of Children who Received Early Treatment for HIV Infection”).

Key Publications

1.    Tailor J, Foldi F, Generoso M, McCarty B, Alankar A, Kilberg M, Mwamzuka M, Marshed F, Ahmed A, Liu M, Borkowsky W, Unutmaz D, Khaitan A. Disease Progression in Children with Perinatal HIV Correlates with Increased PD-1+ CD8 T Cells that Coexpress Multiple Immune Checkpoints. J Infectious Diseases. 2021 Nov 15;224(10):1785-1795.
2.    Bhumbra S, Malin S, Kirkpatrick L, Khaitan A, John CC, Rowan CM, Enane LA. Clinical Features of Critical Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Children. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. 2020 Jul 2:10.1097.
3.    Generoso M, Alvarez P, Kravietz A, Mwamzuka M, Marshed F, Ahmed A, Khaitan A. High soluble CD163 levels correlate with disease progression and inflammation in Kenyan children with perinatal HIV-infection. Concise Communication. AIDS. 2020 Jan 1; 34(1):33-38. 
4.    McCarty B, Mwamzuka M, Marshed F, Generoso M, Alvarez P, Ilmet T, Kravietz A, Ahmed A, Borkowsky W, Khaitan, A. Low peripheral T follicular helper cells in perintally HIV-infected children correlate with advancing HIV disease. Front Immunol. 2018 Aug 24;9:1901.
5.    Alvarez, P, Mwamzuka M, Marshed F, Kravietz A, Ilmet T, Ahmed A, Borkowsky W, Khaitan, A. Immune activation despite preserved CD4 T cells in perinatally HIV-infected children and adolescents. PLoS One. 2017 Dec 28; 12(12):e0190332. 
6.    Foldi J, Kozhaya L, McCarty B, Mwamzuka M, Marshed F, Ilmet T, Kilberg M, Kravietz A, Ahmed A, Borkowsky W, Unutmaz D, Khaitan, A. HIV-infected children have elevated levels of PD-1+ memory CD4 T cells with low proliferative capacity and high inflammatory cytokine effector functions. J Infectious Diseases. 2017 Sept 15; 216(6):641-50.
7.    Khaitan A, Kilberg M, Kravietz A, Ilmet T, Tastan C, Mwamzuka M, Marshed F, Ahmed A, Borkowsky W, Unutmaz D. HIV-infected children have lower frequencies of CD8+ mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells that correlate with innate, Th17 and Th22 cell subsets. PLoS One. 2016 Aug 26; 11(8):e0161786.
8.    Khaitan A, Kravietz A, Mwamzuka M, Marshed F, Ilmet T, Said S, Ahmed A, Borkowsky W, Unutmaz D. FOXP3+Helios+ regulatory T cells, immune activation, and advancing disease in HIV infected children. J Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. 2016 Aug 15; 72(5):474-484.
9.    Mercer F, Khaitan A, Kozhaya L, Aberg JA, Unutmaz D. Differentiation of IL-17-producing effector and regulatory human T cells from lineage-committed naive precursors. J Immunology. 2014. Aug 1;193(3):1047-54. 
10.    ElHed Kozhaya A*, Khaitan A* (shared first author), Manel N, Kozhaya L, Daskalakis D, Borkowsky W, Valentine F, Littman D, Unutmaz D. Human Th17 cells are susceptible to HIV and are perturbed during infection. J Infectious Diseases. 2010 Mar 15;201(6):843-54.

Looking for patient care?

To schedule an appointment with a faculty member physician of IU School of Medicine, contact Indiana University Health at 888-484-3258 or use the physician finder by clicking the button below.
Find a doctor