Dr Richard Halley-Stott

Research Interests

I am a Stem Cell Biologist and Clinician working as the Cape Town Medical Officer on the multi-center EFFECT clinical trial, which aims to prevent the development of a life threatening brain infection (cryptococcal meningitis) in people with advanced HIV by using a combination of antifungal agents, rather than a single medication (the current standard of care).

Cryptococcal meningitis has poor outcomes both in terms of mortality and morbidity - preventing the development of meningitis in patients with advanced HIV who have confirmed cryptococcal disease but without CNS involvement (about 6% of patients with a CD4 <100) would prevent considerable death and disability in Sub-Saharan Africa where ~75% of the world cryptococcal meningitis burden is seen. The current standard of care for this group of patients is a single antifungal agent which is imperfect with ~30% going on to develop meningitis despite receiving this prophylaxis. The EFFECT trial aims to see if this can be improved by adding a second agent to the regimen.

Research Areas

Clinical Neuroscience • Developmental Neuroscience • Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience