S.M. Hermans MD MSc PhD

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MD MSc PhD S.M. Hermans

Position
Assistant Professor
Main activities
Patient care, Research
Specialisation
Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases; Epidemiology (MSc)
Focus of research

As an infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist with more than 10 years of experience living and working in various sub-Saharan African countries, I have a varied, complementary and unique skill-set. My research interests include HIV and tuberculosis (co-)infection, in particular recurrent tuberculosis, and optimal strategies of HIV and TB health care delivery in sub-Saharan Africa.

Within the realm of HIV and TB, I specialize in the analysis of large-scale routinely collected data using up-to-date techniques, and prospective studies of the impact of health care interventions. My expertise enables me to collaborate effectively with basic scientists as well as public health experts, mathematical modellers, clinicians and policy makers.

My work analyzing a decade of routinely collected TB data in Cape Town, South Africa, and Kampala, Uganda has led to my current research focus on recurrent TB. My aim is to determine the mechanisms underlying the increased risk of recurrent TB to identify better approaches for TB control, both in the area of TB vaccines and adapted screening or treatment approaches.

Other current work includes a prospective study of the most effective TB screening strategy in the context of Universal HIV Test and Treat (UTT) in rural Tanzania, operational research on the effectiveness of UTT in that setting, and an evaluation of a new stool-based PCR for diagnosis of TB in children and people living with HIV in Uganda, Mozambique and Eswatini (Stool4TB study).

Recently, I was awarded three grants for projects which are about to start: a prospective cohort study to implement and evaluate novel drug regimens for multi- and extensive drug resistant TB in South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania (T2RiAD study), and two studies into the transmission and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.

I am passionate about capacity development and am involved in teaching and mentorship of students at various levels including bachelor and master theses (BSc Medicine and MSc Health Sciences). I am the co-promotor of four PhD students undertaking research into HIV and TB epidemiology in Tanzania (2) and South Africa (2).

Amsterdam UMC Research Institutes
AMC departments
Key publications
  • Hermans Sabine M, Zinyakatira Nesbert, Caldwell Judy, Cobelens Frank G J, Boulle Andrew, Wood Robin High rates of recurrent TB disease: a population-level cohort study Clinical infectious diseases 2020 [PubMed]
  • Okere Nwanneka Ebelechukwu, Urlings Lisa, Naniche Denise, de Wit Tobias F. Rinke, Gomez Gabriela B., Hermans Sabine Evaluating the sustainability of differentiated service delivery interventions for stable ART clients in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review protocol BMJ open 2020;10 (1) [PubMed]
  • Zawedde-Muyanja Stella, Manabe Yukari C., Musaazi Joseph, Mugabe Frank R., Ross Jennifer M., Hermans Sabine Anti-retroviral therapy scale-up and its impact on sex-stratified tuberculosis notification trends in Uganda Journal of the International AIDS Society 2019;22 (9):e25394 [PubMed]
  • Cevaal Paula M., Bekker Linda-Gail, Hermans Sabine TB-IRIS pathogenesis and new strategies for intervention: Insights from related inflammatory disorders Tuberculosis (Edinburgh, Scotland) 2019;118 [PubMed]
  • Hermans Sabine, Manabe Yukari Population-level tuberculosis incidence in the ART era Lancet infectious diseases 2015;15 (9):997-998 [PubMed]
All Publications
Curriculum Vitae

Sabine Hermans is an assistant professor at the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD) and the Department of Global Health, University of Amsterdam. She also works as a clinician at the Department of Tropical Medicine at the AMC.

Sabine trained as an internist and infectious diseases specialist in the Netherlands. From 2008 to 2012 she was based at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), part of Makerere University College of Health Sciences in Kampala, Uganda, seconded by the University of Utrecht and later AIGHD. She set up and headed the integrated TB/HIV clinic at the IDI, which she combined with research leading toward the completion of her PhD at the University of Utrecht in June 2012 (under joint supervision of late Prof. Joep Lange and Prof. Andy Hoepelman). She subsequently moved to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she obtained her MSc in Epidemiology in 2013 (with distinction).

A 3 year Marie Curie post-doctoral fellowship granted by the European Commission allowed Sabine to join the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town, seconded by AIGHD, from October 2013 to March 2016. There she worked on epidemiological analyses of a decade of data on tuberculosis in the City of Cape Town and helped develop a mathematical model of TB in the city. She also worked as a clinician at the Hannan Crusaid Antiretroviral Treatment Centre in Gugulethu, Cape Town.

Her research has focused on the epidemiology of HIV and TB co-infection and operational research into health care delivery strategies. She has also undertaken historical and cost-effectiveness research in this field. In the past she led a prospective non-randomised interventional study of the effect of a Short Message Service (SMS) reminder service on improving TB treatment completion in Uganda. In 2011 she was awarded the annual International AIDS Society TB-HIV research prize for her operational research on antiretroviral treatment initiation at the IDI integrated TB-HIV clinic.

 


 

Research programmes

Prof. MD MSc PhD F.G.J. Cobelens (Epidemiology and control of poverty-related infectious diseases)

Prof. PhD T.F. Rinke de Wit (Multi-disciplinary public health research in Africa)

Current PhD Candidates
  • J.R. Andrews
  • N.E. Okere
  • B.J. Patterson
  • R.A. Swaibu