Dr. Mathad is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology in the Center for Global Health at Weill Cornell Medicine. She is also a faculty member at the Center for Infectious Diseases in India (CIDI). Her primary research interests include the immune and metabolic changes of pregnancy and their impact on the pathogenesis of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB). Since 2010, she has been conducting NIH-funded research in Pune, India. She first studied the performance of immune-based latent TB diagnostics in pregnant women with and without HIV. She then led the NIH-funded PRACHITi study (NICHD R01HD081929, NIAID K23AI129854) there, which discovered that pregnancy impairs function but not frequency of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells. She also identified a transcriptional host gene expression set that distinguished pregnant women who progress to active TB from those who do not. She also received an NIH R21 to examine how maternal HIV, even when controlled, impacts placental immunology and programming of the fetal immune system. She is currently leading the PRAGATHI study (R01AI162235), which is investigating how gestational diabetes, in the presence and absence of maternal HIV infection, affects TB immunology and incident disease. 

An active member of the International Maternal, Pediatric, and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials network (IMPAACT), Dr. Mathad chaired the only study of the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of the 3-month isoniazid/rifapentine regimen (3HP) for latent TB treatment in pregnant and postpartum women (IMPAACT 2001). She is currently chairing DOLPHIN-Moms, a study of the safety and pharmacokinetics of a one-month daily regimen of isoniazid/rifapentine (1HP) and 3HP in pregnant women living with HIV in South Africa.

In addition to her innovative research, Dr. Mathad also devotes considerable time to mentoring students, residents, and fellows interested in global health, both in New York and India. She has a particular interest in developing the careers of female trainees and co-leads the Women in Global Health Research Initiative at Weill Cornell.