Professional Interests

My research focuses on metabolic complications of HIV infection associated with aging, particularly among women. My current NIH K23 funded research investigates underlying mechanisms of bone loss and the relationship between disorders of bone and fat metabolism in HIV infection, in an effort to explain the high prevalence of premature bone disease in HIV-infected women in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), the largest and longest-running cohort study of HIV infection in women in the United States. I joined the Einstein faculty in 2013 to build on existing collaborations with expert HIV researchers, and more importantly, to develop new collaborations with scientific experts investigating aging, and conditions associated with aging that are prevalent in HIV-infected populations. I recently found that HIV-infected women had greater fracture incidence than uninfected women in WIHS, prompting an investigation into the prevalence and risks for falls in the WIHS. We found that 18% of HIV+ women reported at least one fall within 6 months, and that factors affecting cognition (such as subjective cognitive complaints and CNS active medications) were associated with greater falls risk. Among HIV-infected women age 50 or older, 1/3 reported having a fall annually, similar to the falls incidence in persons age >65 years in the general U.S. population. Additionally, I am conducting research on  visceral adiposity and age-related metabolic disorders among HIV-infected women, in  a project that utilizes two novel imaging techniques to quantify visceral adiposity and skeletal microarchitecture in aging HIV-infected and uninfected women, to assess the relationships between visceral adiposity and metabolic disorders associated with aging (osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and subclinical atherosclerosis) in HIV-infected women. Prior to joining Einstein faculty, I was awarded a grant to study factors associated with bone loss among women and men with and at-risk for HIV infection, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Physician Faculty Scholars Program, as well as an AIDS-Science Track Award for Research Transition (R03) by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, to study the role of insulin-like growth factor in the development of reduced bone mineral density in two large cohorts of drug using men and women with and at-risk for HIV infection. Additional areas of research interest includethe effects of regional adiposity and obesity on health in HIV-infected populations.

Selected Publications

1. Sharma A, Tian F, Yin MT, Keller MJ, Cohen M, Tien PC. Association of Regional Body Composition with Bone Mineral Density in HIV-infected and Uninfected Women: Women's Interagency HIV Study. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2012 Dec 1; 61(4):469-76. PMCID: PMC3494812.
2. Shlipak MG, Scherzer R, Abraham A, Tien PC, Grunfeld C, Peralta CA, Devarajan P, Bennett M, Butch AW, Anastos K, Cohen MH, Nowicki M, Sharma A, Young MA, Sarnak MJ, Parikh CR. Urinary Markers of Kidney Injury and Kidney Function Decline in HIV-Infected Women: Biomarkers and Kidney Decline. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2012 Dec 15; 61(5):565-73. PMC3509242.
3. Laisaar KT, Uusküla A, Sharma A, DeHovitz JA, Amico KR. Developing an adherence support intervention for patients on antiretroviral therapy in the context of the recent IDU-driven HIV/AIDS epidemic in Estonia. AIDS Care. 2013;25(7):863-73. PMCID: PMC3651786.  
4. Aziz M, Adeyemi OM, Livak B, Burke-Miller J, French A, Glesby MJ, Sharma A, Young M, Villacres M, Tien P, Golub E, Cohen M. Vitamin D insufficiency may impair CD4 recovery among HIV infected women with advanced disease on HAART. AIDS. 2013 Feb 20;27(4):573-8. PMCID: PMC3902982.
5. Oboho I, Abraham A, Benning L, Anastos K, Sharma A, Young M, Burian P, Gandhi M, CohenM, Szczech L. Tenofovir use and urinary biomarkers among HIV-infected women in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2013 Apr 1;62(4):388-95. PMCID: PMC3692572.
6. Adeyemi OM, Livak B, Orsi J, Glesby MJ, Villacres MC, Weber KM, SharmaA, Golub E, Young M, Cohen M, Tien PC. Vitamin D and Insulin Resistance in Non-Diabetic Women’s Interagency HIV Study Participants. AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2013 Jun;27(6):320-5. PMCID: PMC3671624.
7. Hoy J, Grund B, Roediger M, Ensrud KE, Brar I, Colebunders R, De Castro N, Johnson M, SharmaA, Carr A, for the INSIGHT SMART Body Composition Substudy Group. Interruption or deferral of antiretroviral therapy reduces markers of bone turnover compared with continuous therapy: the SMART Body Composition Substudy. J Bone Miner Res. 2013 June; 28(6):1264–1274. PMCID: PMC3657331.
8. Driver TH, Scherzer R, Peralta CA, Tien PC, Estrella MM, Parikh CR, Butch AW, Anastos K, Cohen MH,  Nowicki M, Sharma A, Young MA, Abraham A, Shlipak MG. Comparisons of creatinine and cystatin C for detection of kidney disease and prediction of all-cause mortality in HIV‐infected women. AIDS. 2013 Sep 10;27(14):2291-9. PMCID: PMC3919542.
9. Schwartz JB, Moore KL, Yin M, SharmaA, Merenstein D, Islam T, Golub ET,  Tien PC, Adeyemi OM. Relationship of vitamin D, HIV, HIV treatment and lipid levels in the Women’s Interagency HIV study of HIV-infected and uninfected women in the United States.  Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (JIAPAC) 2014 May-Jun;13(3):250-9. PMCID: PMC4016117..
10. Jotwani V, Scherzer R, Abraham A, Estrella MM, Bennett M, Devarajan P, Anastos K, Cohen MH, Nowicki M, Sharma A, Young M, Tien PC, Grunfeld C, Parikh CR, Shlipak MG. Does HIV infection promote early kidney injury in women? Antivir Ther. 2014;19(1):79-87. PMCID: PMC3933452.
11. Peralta C, Scherzer R, Grunfeld C, Abraham A, Tien P, Devarajan P, Bennett M, Butch A, Anastos K, Cohen M, Nowicki M, Sharma A, Young M, Sarnak M, Parikh C, Shlipak M. Urinary biomarkers of kidney injury are associated with all-cause mortality in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). HIV Med. 2014 May;15(5):291-300. PMCID: PMC3975680.
12. Mirmirani P, Maurer T, Cohen M, D’Souza G, Karim R, Plankey M, Robison E, SharmaA, Tien PC, Hessol NA. Investigating the Effects of Metabolic Dysregulation on Hair Follicles: A Comparison of HIV-Infected Women with and Without Central Lipohypertrophy. Int J Dermatolol. 2014 Oct;53(10):e443-8. PMCID: PMC3785560.
13. Sharma A, Bynum SA, Schneider MF, Cox C, Tien PC, Hershow RC, Gustafson D, Plankey MW. Changes in Body Mass Index Following HAART initiation among HIV-infected Women in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. J AIDS Clin Res. 2014. 5:323. PMCID: PMC4285631
14. Jotwani V, Scherzer R, Abraham A, Estrella MM, Bennett M, Cohen MH, Nowicki M, Sharma A, Young M, Tien PC, Ix JH, Sarnak MJ, Parikh CR, Shlipak MG. Association of Urine α1-Microglobulin with Kidney Function Decline and Mortality in HIV-Infected Women. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2015 Jan 7;10(1):63-73. PMCID: PMC4284407
15. Lang J, Scherzer R, Tien PC, Parikh CR, Anastos K, Estrella MM, Abraham AG, Sharma A, Cohen MH, Butch AW, Nowicki M, Grunfeld C, Shlipak MG. Serum albumin and kidney function decline in HIV-infected women. Am J Kidney Dis. 2014 Oct;64(4):584-91. PMCID: PMC4177337
16. Jotwani V, Shlipak MG, Scherzer R, Parekh RS, Kao WH, Bennett M, Cohen MH, Nowicki M, Sharma A, Young M, Tien PC, Parikh CR, Estrella MM. APOL1 Genotype and Glomerular and Tubular Kidney Injury in Women With HIV. Am J Kidney Dis. 2015 Jun;65(6):889-98. doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2015.02.329. Epub 2015 Apr 24. PubMed PMID: 25921719.
17. Sharma A, Flom PL, Rosen CJ, Schoenbaum EE. Racial Differences in Bone Loss and Relation to Menopause Among HIV-infected and Uninfected Women. Bone. 2015 Apr 18;77:24-30. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2015.04.018. [Epub ahead of print] PMCID: PMC4418198.
18. Sharma A, Shi Q, Hoover DR, Anastos K, Tien PC, Young MA, Cohen MH, Golub ET, Gustafson D, Yin MT. Increased fracture incidence in middle-aged HIV-infected and uninfected women: updated results from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2015 Sep 1; 70(1):54-61. PMID: 26322667 [PubMed - in process] PMCID: PMC4557627
19. Baxi SM, Scherzer R, Greenblatt RM, Minkoff H, Sharma A, Cohen M, Young MA, Abraham AG, and Shlipak MG. Higher Tenofovir Exposure is Associated with Longitudinal Declines in Kidney Function in Women Living with HIV. AIDS. 2016 Feb 20;30(4):609-18
20. SharmaA, HooverDR, ShiQ, Gustafson D, Plankey MW, HershowRC, TienPC, GolubET, AnastosA. Relationship between Body Mass Index and Mortality in HIV-infected HAART Users in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. PLoS One. 2015 Dec 23;10(12):e0143740. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143740. eCollection 2015.
21. Scherzer R, Lin H, Abraham A, Thiessen-Philbrook H, Parikh CR, Bennett M, Cohen MH, Nowicki M, Gustafson DR, Sharma A, Young M, Tien P, Jotwani V, and Shlipak MG. Use of urine biomarker-derived clusters to predict risk of CKD and all-cause mortality in HIV-infected women. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2016 Jan 10.