Questions about COVID-19?

What Patients & Families Need to Know | New Visitor Policy | Guidance for Community Healthcare Providers

A photo of Paul Spearman.

Director, Division of Infectious Diseases

513-636-4509

Board Certified

Best Doctors logo

My Biography & Research

Biography

Paul Spearman, MD is the Albert B. Sabin professor and director of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. His laboratory studies fundamental aspects of HIV biology and develops new vaccines for human pathogens. HIV assembly processes are a major focus of the laboratory, including the trafficking of the HIV envelope glycoprotein and its interaction with essential host factors. A related project studies the role of tetherin in restricting HIV replication, and is defining how the viral protein Vpu counteracts this important host restriction factor. A novel mucosal HIV vaccine based on parainfluenza virus type 5 (PIV5) priming and virus-like particle boosting is under evaluation in macaque models. Dr. Spearman and his colleagues are engaged in the design and performance of clinical trials for new vaccines in adults and children, with a special interest in employing cutting-edge technologies to define innate and adaptive immune responses to vaccines.

Before moving to Cincinnati, Dr. Spearman was professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University, and chief research officer for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. While there he also served as co-director of the Emory Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU). Dr. Spearman currently serves on the Board of Scientific Counselors for NCI, frequently serves on study sections for NIAID, and is president-elect of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS). Beyond his research interests, Dr. Spearman is a pediatric ID clinician and enjoys caring for children and mentoring future leaders in Infectious Diseases.

Clinical Interests

Pediatric infectious diseases

Research Interests

HIV assembly; HIV biology/pathogenesis; HIV vaccines; vaccines and therapeutics for children (clinical trials)

Departments

Infectious Diseases, Infectious Diseases

My Locations

My Education

MD: University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, 1986.

Residency: Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 1986-1990.

Fellowship: Infectious Diseases, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1990-1993.

My Publications

Rapid boosting of HIV-1 neutralizing antibody responses in humans following a prolonged immunologic rest period. Spearman, P; Tomaras, GD; Montefiori, DC; Huang, Y; Elizaga, ML; Ferrari, G; Munir Alam, S; Isaacs, A; Ahmed, H; Hural, J; et al. Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2019; 219:1755-1765.

Challenges and solutions for instituting an efficient maintenance program for laboratory equipment in Central Asian, and developing world, countries. Ikranbegiin, R; Schmid, G; Hoos, D; Young, A; Della-Latta, P; Spearman, P; Ramos, A; Alemayehu, B; Achmetova, B; Nauryzova, G; et al. BMC Public Health. 2019; 19.

The ability of SAMHD1 to block HIV-1 but not SIV requires expression of MxB. Buffone, C; Kutzner, J; Opp, S; Martinez-Lopez, A; Selyutina, A; Coggings, SA; Studdard, LR; Ding, L; Kim, B; Spearman, P; et al. Virology. 2019; 531:260-268.

DNA vaccine priming for seasonal influenza vaccine in children and adolescents 6 to 17 years of age: A phase 1 randomized clinical trial. Houser, KV; Yamshchikov, GV; Bellamy, AR; May, J; Enama, ME; Sarwar, U; Larkin, B; Bailer, RT; Koup, R; Paskel, M; et al. PLoS ONE. 2018; 13:e0206837-e0206837.

A novel Ebola virus antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (Ebola ADCC) assay. Singh, K; Marasini, B; Chen, X; Spearman, P. Journal of Immunological Methods. 2018; 460:10-16.

Targeted Elimination of Tumorigenic Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Suicide-Inducing Virus-like Particles. Rampoldi, A; Crooke, SN; Preininger, MK; Jha, R; Maxwell, J; Ding, L; Spearman, P; Finn, MG; Xu, C. ACS Chemical Biology. 2018; 13:2329-2338.

HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Trafficking through the Endosomal Recycling Compartment Is Required for Particle Incorporation. Kirschman, J; Qi, M; Ding, L; Hammonds, J; Dienger-Stambaugh, K; Wang, J; Lapierre, LA; Goldenring, JR; Spearman, P. Journal of Virology. 2018; 92.

HIV-1 decreases Nrf2/ARE activity and phagocytic function in alveolar macrophages. Staitieh, BS; Ding, L; Neveu, WA; Spearman, P; Guidot, DM; Fan, X. Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 2017; 102:517-525.

Adjuvanting a simian immunodeficiency virus vaccine with toll-like receptor ligands encapsulated in nanoparticles induces persistent antibody responses and enhanced protection in trim5α restrictive macaques. Kasturi, SP; Kozlowski, PA; Nakaya, HI; Burger, MC; Russo, P; Pham, M; Kovalenkov, Y; Silveira, EL V; Havenar-Daughton, C; Burton, SL; et al. Journal of Virology. 2017; 91.

HIV-related proteins prolong macrophage survival through induction of Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1. Yuan, Z; Fan, X; Staitieh, B; Bedi, C; Spearman, P; Guidot, DM; Sadikot, RT. Scientific Reports. 2017; 7.