Ravindra Gupta

Ravindra Gupta is a clinical microbiologist and infectious disease physician specializing in HIV and viral research. Gupta completed his undergraduate medical degree at Cambridge University and his clinical degree at Oxford University, and earned a Master of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health as a Fulbright scholar. He trained in infectious diseases in Oxford and London, at UCLH and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, before completing a PhD at UCL focused on lentiviral evasion of antiretrovirals and innate immune responses. Gupta established a research group at UCL, concentrating on the genetics and biology of HIV resistance and reservoirs, and was promoted to full professor.

Gupta led a team that demonstrated HIV remission in an HIV-positive man with advanced Hodgkin's lymphoma following an unrelated stem cell transplant, known as the London Patient. The procedure involved replacing the patient’s blood system through hematopoietic stem cell transplantation using a donor with a rare CCR5 gene mutation that provides protection against HIV. This case became the second recorded instance of a patient cured of HIV, with findings published in "Nature" and "Lancet HIV." Gupta’s research on global HIV drug resistance contributed to changes in World Health Organization treatment guidelines for HIV.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gupta applied expertise in RNA virus genetics to study SARS-CoV-2. His group reported the first evidence of immune escape and infectivity enhancement of SARS-CoV-2 within a host, helping define how new variants may arise in immunocompromised individuals. Subsequent work detailed the replication advantages of the Alpha variant, the Delta variant’s cell fusion efficiency, and the tropism shift and immune escape of Omicron. Gupta also advised the UK government on COVID-19 through SAGE and NERVTAG.

Gupta has been recognized in the scientific community, including being named in Time 100 Most Influential People and featured in the Clarivate list of highly cited scientists. He is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and received the Translational Microbiology Prize from the UK Microbiology Society. Gupta delivered the J.D. Bernal Prize Lecture at University of London. He holds The Hong Kong Jockey Club Chair in Global Health at Cambridge University, serves as co-director of The Global Health Institute in Hong Kong, and is a faculty member at the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa. His career spans molecular virology, global epidemiology, and clinical medicine, contributing to advancements in infectious disease research and HIV cure strategies.