Faculty

Helen Y Chu

Professor, Epidemiology
Professor, Medicine - Allergy and Infectious Dis.
Program Lead, Infectious Disease, Brotman Baty Institute, Medicine - Allergy and Infectious Dis.
Term Professorship, 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)

A Promise Fulfilled: Updates on RSV Vaccines and Monoclonal Antibodies.
(2025 Nov 4)
J Allergy Clin Immunol
Murray A, Chu HY
Impact of Influenza Vaccination during Pregnancy on Maternal Influenza Disease Severity in Rural Nepal.
(2025 Nov 6)
Am J Trop Med Hyg
Frivold C, Katz J, Lama TP, Tielsch JM, Khatry SK, LeClerq SC, Carone M, John-Stewart G, Khosropour CM, Englund JA, Chu HY
Generation of antigen-specific paired-chain antibodies using large language models.
(2025 Nov 4)
Cell
Wasdin PT, Johnson NV, Janke AK, Held S, Marinov TM, Jordaan G, Gillespie RA, Vandenabeele L, Pantouli F, Powers OC, Vukovich MJ, Holt CM, Kim J, Hansman G, Logue J, Chu HY, Andrews SF, Kanekiyo M, Sautto GA, Ross TM, Sheward DJ, McLellan JS, Abu-Shmais AA, Georgiev IS
Infant CD4 T-Cell Response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination Is Restricted in Cytokine Production and Modified by Vaccine Manufacturer.
(2025 Oct)
Open Forum Infect Dis 12(10): ofaf599
Peters MQ, Young AL, Stolarczuk JE, Glad M, Layton E, Logue JK, Minkah NK, Chu HY, Englund JA, Sather DN, Seshadri C, Kachikis A, Harrington WE
Science for vaccine policy: Independent review of the September 2025 ACIP processes, deliberations and votes.
(2025 Oct 23)
Vaccine 67(): 127876
Asturias EJ, Chen LH, Shaw AC, Moser CA, Maldonado YA, Zucker JR, Chu HY, Talbot HK, Cineas S, Lyons K, Schechter R, Kamboj M, Wiley Z, Brewer NT
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