As an infectious diseases physician and epidemiologist with more than 10 years of experience living and working in various sub-Saharan African countries, Sabine Hermans’ 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, she specializes in the analysis of large-scale routinely collected data using up-to-date techniques, and prospective studies of the impact of health care interventions. Her expertise enables her to collaborate effectively with scientists as well as public health experts, mathematical modelers, clinicians, and policymakers. Her work analyzing a decade of routinely collected TB data in Cape Town, South Africa, and Kampala, Uganda has led to her current research focus on recurrent TB. She aims 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 operational research on the implementation of Universal HIV Test and Treat (UTT) in rural Tanzania, and 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), and 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).