David Welsh

David Welsh is a Senior Professor at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans. His research integrates HIV immunology, infectious disease epidemiology, and the microbiome, with a specific focus on how alcohol use and dietary factors influence mucosal immune homeostasis and gut barrier integrity in ART-treated SIV/HIV infection. Recent work explores the AhR–RORγt and AhR–IL-22 axes, alongside behavioral pathways linking violence exposure, mental health, and medication adherence in people living with HIV in the U.S. South. He also investigates alcohol’s effects on cortisol, pain, and respiratory physiology.