February 15, 2021
by Julie Parry
In March of 2020, Shelli Farhadian, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (infectious diseases) and neurology, began to see parallels in her pre-pandemic research on neurologic effects in patients with HIV infection and the possibility of neurologic effects on patients with SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19.
“There was some literature out there that suggested that coronaviruses could have an effect on the brain. So, knowing that that was a potential possibility, even before we had our first case at Yale New Haven Hospital, I worked with other people to set up a protocol where we could consent patients to collect tissue specimens and information to try to see if this was also going happen with SARS-CoV-2,” explained Farhadian.