Vikki Abrahams

Abrahams came to the United States for her postdoctoral work at Dartmouth Medical School and Yale University in the field of reproductive immunology before accepting a faculty position in 2004.^[1] In her role as an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Abrahams co-authored a study which found that there was a specific defence mechanism used by the immune system which was imitated by cancer cells in order to fight off the effects of cancer drugs like paclitaxel.^[2] She was later awarded a one-year grant of $73,284 from the Lupus Research Alliance for her project titled "Effect of Antiphospholipid Antibodies on Trophoblast Function in Pregnancy."^[3] In 2010, Abrahams continued her research into pregnancy complications using a three-year grant from the American Heart Association to advance her work.^[4] She also co-authored another study which uncovered how hormone progesterone act to prevent preterm birth.^[5]

Abrahams research focuses on understanding the role of innate immune toll-like receptor and NOD-like receptor family members in placental and maternal-fetal immune responses.^[1] In 2014, she was the senior author on a study exploring whether an anti-malaria drug could be used to treat obstetrical antiphospholipid syndrome.^[6] Two years later, she was the recipient of the 2016 Novel Research Grant from the Lupus Research Institute to conduct innovative work in lupus.^[7] She used this grant to lead a study identifying how the Zika virus infects the placenta.^[8]

In 2019, Abrahams was the recipient of the annual American Society for Reproductive Immunology Award as someone "who has made outstanding contributions to the area of reproductive immunology."^[9]

Vikki Abrahams publications indexed by Google Scholar