Biography

Sara E. Dolan Looby, PhD, ANP-BC, FAANis a NIH-funded researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Since 2001, Dr. Looby has served as a member of a distinguished interdisciplinary research team in the Neuroendocrine Unit at Mass General, known as the Program in Nutritional Metabolism (PINM). With this group, Dr. Looby conducts novel research on metabolic disorders related to HIV, specifically bone loss, lipodystrophic fat accumulation, cardiovascular risk, and reproductive abnormalities among women with HIV. During her time with PINM, Dr. Looby has published widely in top-tiered interdisciplinary journals. Notably, two of her studies were among the first to report reduced bone density associated with high bone-turnover among women with HIV, and increased cardiovascular risk related to increased abdominal fat and cardiac inflammation in this population. Dr. Looby recently completed a NIH-funded investigation of metabolic, psychological and vasomotor symptoms among the growing number of perimenopausal with HIV. Dr. Looby has presented on metabolic issues related to HIV at both national and international HIV conferences, including the NIH. Dr. Looby is also a Nurse Scientist at the Munn Center for Nursing Research and a Connell Research Scholar (2014; mentor Nancy Fugate Woods, PhD, RN, FAAN). In addition to her research activities, Dr. Looby is a dedicated volunteer health educator at local AIDS service organizations, and has received honors for her community work and compassionate care of individuals with HIV.