Faculty

Helen Y Chu

Professor, Epidemiology
Professor, Medicine - Allergy and Infectious Dis.
Wasserheit-Harris Endowed Professorship in Global Health, Global Health
Program Lead, Infectious Disease, Brotman Baty Institute, Medicine - Allergy and Infectious Dis.
Associate Dean for Research, School of Public Health


Education

MPH Epidemiology, University of Washington, 2012
MD Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 2005
BA Cornell University, 2001

Research Areas

Research Interests

Dr. Chu's research is focused on maternal immunization, in particular vaccines against influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). She studies the virologic and immunologic correlates of protection from respiratory viral infections in pregnant women, infants, and older adults, and performs clinical trials of vaccine candidates in both domestic and international sites, including Nepal and Bangladesh. She has developed immunologic assays to study transplacental transfer and decay kinetics of RSV antibody, and nosocomial and household transmission of respiratory viruses by genotypic analysis and molecular sequencing.

Recent Publications (PubMed)

Transplacental transfer efficiency and longitudinal dynamics of antibodies against RSV in early childhood: a paired mother-neonate cohort study in southern China.
(2026 Nov 7)
Clin Microbiol Infect
Xu M, Wang Y, Tong X, Yi L, Lin J, Zou J, Zhao S, Yang J, Chu HY, Wang Q, Yu H
Interactions between respiratory viruses in US adults and children: a prospective cohort study.
(2026 Oct 19)
medRxiv
Hoffman KL, Weil AA, Wetzler EA, Akinola BO, Beauge A, Andy C, Adams A, Frivold C, Cox SN, Ehmen B, Hatchie T, Clark EL, Drummond M, Englund JA, Han PD, Kuntz JL, Lo NC, Lockwood CM, Starita L, Mularski RA, Naleway AL, Carone M, Chu HY
RSV Molecular Epidemiology Pre- and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Periods in Seattle, Washington, USA.
(2026 Oct)
Influenza Other Respir Viruses 20(10): e70332
Roychoudhury P, Bennett JC, Elias-Warren A, Wetzler E, Starita LM, Stone J, Capodanno B, Prentice R, Han PD, Grindstaff SB, Reinhart D, Logue JK, Wolf CR, Boeckh M, Lockwood CM, Perofsky AC, Viboud C, Shendure J, Bedford T, Carone M, Englund JA, Chu HY
Mutational constraints on RSV F and its neutralization by antibodies.
(2026 Oct)
Nature 658(8137): 998-1007
Simonich CAL, McMahon TE, Juviler G, Kampman L, Chu HY, Bloom JD
Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir targeting viral persistence in post-COVID-19 condition (long COVID) in the USA (RECOVER-VITAL): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial.
(2026 Aug 31)
Lancet Infect Dis
Baden LR, Shah NS, Liu STH, Cohen J, Moy J, Kumar A, McComsey GA, Chen P, Floris-Moore M, Singer NG, Fernandez I, Slandzicki AJ, Wiley Z, Kadl A, Kaminsky DA, Hsu H, Walker TA, Hope AA, Ostrosky-Zeichner L, Goldman JD, Peluso MJ, Patterson TF, Parthasarathy S, Mullington JM, Bolin P Jr, Jolley SE, Krishnan JA, Castro M, Hodder SL, Pemu P, Chu HY, Risbano MG, Jerath MR, Mylonakis E, Hurt RT, Alicic R, Azad NS, Sala MA, Harkins MS, Parsonnet J, Stafford N, Robinson P, Hussain S, Qiao X, Hawk ST, Lillestol M, Erdmann N, Gebo KA, Sudhindra P, Sassine J, Marshall GD, Chatterjee T, Morse CG, Kedar E, Stringer WW, Frontera JA, Jordan M, Blaskewicz C, Santana JL, Foot RA, Wongtrakool C, McCarthy MW, Mehari A, Amon A, Cohen AK, Jain N, Maughan C, Lindsay D, Olson R, Broderick S, Rowe P, O'Brien SM, Walt DR, Levy BD, Jason LA, Low PA, Shibao CA, Make B, Bateman L, Redline S, Knopman D, Hernandez AF, Nolen TL, Reist C, Berdan L, Whitley R, Zimmerman KO, RECOVER-VITAL Clinical Trial Group
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