Natalia Teleshova

Dr. Natalia Teleshova is a translational scientist conducting research in the areas of mucosal HIV-1/other STIs transmission and prevention, mucosal immunology and women’s health. Dr. Teleshova’s Laboratory conducts preclinical testing of candidate products, including multipurpose prevention products, in vitro in cell-based and mucosal tissue-based models, as well as in vivo in murine models and in non-human primates, analyzing safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and efficacy.

Dr. Teleshova’s research has been focusing on mucosal HIV-1/other STI infections with the goal of informing prevention strategies. Her laboratory led studies dissecting the role of sex hormones in mucosal HIV-1 infection and described menstrual cycle phase-associated changes in cervical mucosa transcriptome potentially impacting susceptibility to HIV-1 infection.

Dr. Teleshova earned her MD from Pavlov State Medical University in St. Petersburg, Russia, and her PhD in immunology from Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. She conducted postdoctoral research at the Population Council and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Her postdoctoral research focused on the biology of HIV infection and its prevention through microbicides and vaccines. Dr. Teleshova has served as a primary investigator or project co-lead on several NIH awards. She has served on multiple grant proposal review panels at NIH. She is a member of the Population Council IRB and a member of the Board of Directors of the Population Council-Kenya (PC-Kenya).