Arturo Casadevall is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Molecular Microbiology &

Immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

and

Infectious Diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

at the

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private university, private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins ...

and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and the Alfred and Jill Sommer Professor and Chair of the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the

. He is an internationally recognized expert in infectious disease research, with a focus on

fungal A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the tradit ...

and bacterial pathogenesis and basic

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

antibody An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as pathogenic bacteria, bacteria and viruses, includin ...

structure-function. He was elected a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2022.

Biography

Arturo Casadevall was born in Sancti Spíritus,

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, in 1957 from a Catalan-descendant family. He moved to Elmhurst, Queens,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1968 and became a

U.S. citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Consti ...

in 1976. Prior to his career in medicine, Casadevall worked at

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

for 4 years and later as a bank teller. Casadevall received his Bachelor of Arts degree in

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from Queens College, City University of New York in 1979, and his M.S. and Ph.D in

Biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 1983 and 1984. He then received his M.D. from

in 1985. Casadevall completed his internship and residency in

internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

at the Bellevue Hospital Center, and a fellowship in

infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

at the Montefiore Medical Center of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Under the guidance of Matthew D. Scharff, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine from 1989 to 1991. In 1992, he accepted an assistant professorship in

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 2000, he became the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Montefiore Medical Center and rose to the rank of full professor by 2001. In 2002, he was named the Selma and Jacques Mitrani Professor in

Biomedical Research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...

. In 2006, he became the Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and was named the Leo and Julia Forchheimer Professor of Microbiology Immunology. He is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine and the subspecialty of infectious diseases. Until July 2009, Dr. Casadevall served as an editor of the ASM journal Infection and Immunity and continues to serve on the editorial boards of the Journal of Infectious Diseases and the

Journal of Experimental Medicine ''Journal of Experimental Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by Rockefeller University Press that publishes research papers and commentaries on the physiological, pathological, and molecular mechanisms that encompass ...

. He is also the founding Editor in Chief of mBio, the first open access general journal of the

American Society for Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

. He served as a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity from 2005 to 2014. Casadevall was also a commissioner for the National Forensic Commission of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

from 2015 to 2017. In March 2015, Casadevall was named a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

for his accomplishments as an interdisciplinary researcher and excellence in teaching.Anderson, Nick
"Bloomberg pledges $350 million to Johns Hopkins University"
''The Washington Post'', Washington, D.C., 23 January 2013. Retrieved on 12 March 2015. The Bloomberg Distinguished Professorship program was established in 2013 by a gift from

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

. Casadevall holds appointments in the

's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Department of Infectious Diseases.Brooks, Kell
"Johns Hopkins names four new Bloomberg Distinguished Professors"
''JHU Hub'', Baltimore, 30 March 2015. Retrieved on 27 July 2015. He also serves as the Alfred and Jill Sommer Professor and Chair of the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2015. Casadevall is passionate about improving the doctoral curriculum, stating that he wants to "develop a program of putting the 'Ph' hilosophyback into 'PhD' ..Hopkins reformed medical education 100 years ago, and now we can experiment with creating better ways of training scientists." In 2017, the R3 (Rigor, Reproducibility and Responsibility) reflecting these values was launched at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Casadevall is profiled in the last chapter of '' Range'' by David Epstein, a book arguing against specialization. Epstein posits that Casadevall's early life experiences, including working odd jobs unrelated to medicine, contributed to his later success.

Awards and distinctions

Casadevall's groundbreaking work in the field of

has been recognized by many, including the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

, which presented him with a Merit Award in 2007. He received several distinguished awards, including the Alumni Achievement Award in Basic Science from

, the Rhoda Benham Award of the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas, the Kass Lecture from the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the ASM Founders Distinguished Service Award from the

. In 2022, Casadevall received the Lucille Georg Award from the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. In 2001, Casadevall received the Samuel M. Rosen outstanding teacher award and in 2008 he was recognized the

with the William Hinton Award for "outstanding contributions toward fostering the research training of underrepresented minorities in microbiology." ASM also notes that Casadevall was the first Hispanic Department Chair at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and has "provided exemplary training and mentoring to a significant number of minority scientists, and himself served as a role model of success." He has served as President of the Medical Mycology Society of America, Chair of

Division F, Chair of the

Career Development Committee, and Co-Chair of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Board of Scientific Counselors, and currently serves on the Scientific Council of the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and was elected

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

and the American Academy of Microbiology. In 2014, he became an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and in 2017, he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. He was named a Johns Hopkins Gilman Scholar in 2018. In 2022, he was elected to

. He was elected a distinguished fellow by the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) in 2023. He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

Research

Bridging the fields of microbiology and immunology, Casadevall's research is focused on fungal and bacterial pathogenesis and basic immunology of antibody structure-function. He has defined much of what is known about

pathogenesis and how

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

such as '' Cryptococcus neoformans'' evade the host immune response. Fungal infections are particularly dangerous in

immunocompromised Immunodeficiency, also known as immunocompromise, is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious diseases and cancer is compromised or entirely absent. Most cases are acquired ("secondary") due to extrinsic factors that affe ...

individuals such as

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

patients undergoing

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

, making this work highly significant. With his collaborator Dr. Ekaterina (Kate) Dadachova, he pioneered the use of radioimmunotherapeutic strategies for the control of systemic fungal and other

infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

s. During the course of his studies, he noted that certain fungi were radioresistant and worked to develop novel therapeutic strategies for a variety of human diseases including

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

and infectious diseases, such as

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. He holds several active

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s on these approaches. Casadevall has a long record of outstanding scholarly and leadership contributions. His lab has studied host-microbe interactions with '' Cryptococcus neoformans'', ''

Mycobacterium tuberculosis ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (M. tb), also known as Koch's bacillus, is a species of pathogenic bacteria in the family Mycobacteriaceae and the causative agent of tuberculosis. First discovered in 1882 by Robert Koch, ''M. tuberculosis'' ha ...

'', and '' Bacillus anthracis'', with a focus on microbial pathogenesis and mechanisms of antibody action. His lab established that

humoral immunity Humoral immunity is the aspect of immunity (medical), immunity that is mediated by macromolecules – including secreted antibodies, complement proteins, and certain antimicrobial peptides – located in extracellular fluids. Humoral immunity is ...

could protect against intracellular pathogens, demonstrated that '' Cryptococcus neoformans'' was a facultative intracellular pathogen, and suggested that virulence in environmental fungi was selected by amoeba predators, a hypothesis dubbed "accidental virulence". Jointly with British biologist Robin May, his group were the first to observe non-lytic expulsion, or vomocytosis, of intracellular fungi. Subsequently, with Kirsten Nielsen at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, he characterized the ability of cryptococci to form "giant" or "titan" cells in vivo, unusually large cells that help drive persistent infections. His lab continues to work on fungal and bacterial pathogenesis. Together with Liise-anne Pirofski, he proposed the 'Damage-Response Framework' of microbial pathogenesis, a new synthesis that shifted the emphasis away from focusing on microbes as pathogens, commensals, opportunists to the outcome of host-pathogen interactions. The damage-response framework was the first theory of microbial pathogenesis to incorporate the contributions of both the host and the pathogen and refocused attention into the outcome of the interaction. From the view of the damage-response framework there are no pathogens, commensals, symbionts, etc., but only microbes and their hosts, which interact to produce the states of pathogenesis, commensalism, symbiosis, indifference, etc. In addition, Casadevall, in collaboration with Dr. Ferric C. Fang, has been constructive in shaping the nations approach to science,

scientific misconduct Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly method, scholarly conduct and ethics, ethical behavior in the publication of professional science, scientific research. It is the violation of scientific integrity: violati ...

, and promotion of women and underrepresented minorities. Among his own trainees, nearly half are members of underrepresented minority groups and more than half are women. With a focus on

events, Casadevall has been active in creating gender balance among speakers at conferences. Along these lines, he stated: "When you have an underrepresentation of women as speakers and many panel discussions made up only of male researchers, you're sending the message that perhaps the field is not welcoming to women. That isn't the message we want to send." His research on

has focused on fraudulent results published in journals and the subsequent rates of retraction. In addition, his views on and analysis of topics ranging from problems with the funding pipeline to the rise in retractions in journals to the complex

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

of dual use research are widely sought by premier journals and media outlets. In response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Casadevall was part of a national effort to investigate and expand the use of convalescent plasma,

-containing blood serum collected from patients who have recovered from the virus, as a measure to help until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available. These antibodies are produced as part of the body's natural immune response, and bind to and neutralize the virus. A transfusion of blood containing these antibodies boosts the immunity of newly infected patients or people at risk of contracting the disease. Such infusions have been successfully implemented in past outbreaks, such as the SARS Epidemic,

1918 Flu Pandemic The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, H1N1 subtype of the influenz ...

, and an outbreak of

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

in 1934. The use of COVID-19 convalescent plasma for immunocompromised patients was found to be associated with a decrease in mortality. Casadevall has written about the impact of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

on fungal infections, especially fungal infections caused by the drug-resistant fungus '' Candida Auris'', a species of fungus that grows as

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

. The fungus has spread through U.S. health care facilities and can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems. Casadevall has suggested that global warming could result in the emergence of new fungal diseases as

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

could slowly increase heat tolerance in fungi to the point where they may be able to survive in human hosts.

Publications

He has published more than 1,000 papers and 33 book chapters, largely in the fields of

and

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

and

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

, and

, and more recently scientific culture and competition. As of early 2024, Casadevall has more than 90,000 citations in Google Scholar and an h-index of 157.Google Schola
"Author: Arturo Casadevall"
''

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

'', 4 August 2015. Retrieved on 13 March 2024. ;Books *2023, ''Thinking about Science: Good Science, Bad Science, and How to Make It Better''. with co-author Ferric C. Fang, ASM Press. *2014, ''Human Fungal Pathogens''. With co-editors A.P. Mitchell, J. Berman, KJ Kwon-Chung, J.R. Perfect, J. Heitman, Cold Spring Harbor Press. *2011, ''Recent Advances on Model Hosts''. With co-editors E. Mylonakis, F.M. Ausubel, M. Gilmore, Springer Verlag/ Springer Science & Business. *2011, ''Cryptococcus'': from human pathogen to model yeast. with co-editors J. Heitman, T.R. Kozel, KJ Kwon-Chung, and JR Perfect, ASM Press. * 1998, ''Cryptococcus neoformans''. with co-author John R. Perfect, ASM Press. ;Highly Cited Articles *2020, with Liise-anne Pirofski, ''The convalescent sera option for containing COVID-19'', in: '' The Journal of Clinical Investigation''. Vol. 130, nº 4; 1545–1548. *2015, with Lisa Brown, Julie M Wolf, Rafael Prados-Rosales, ''Through the wall: extracellular vesicles in Gram-positive bacteria, mycobacteria and fungi'', in: '' Nature Reviews Microbiology''. Vol. 13, nº 10; 620–630. *2012, with JM Bardeen, JR Bond, and N Kaiser, ''Misconduct accounts for the majority of retracted scientific publications'', in: ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...

''. Vol. 109, nº 42; 17028–17033. * 2003, with Joshua D Nosanchuk. ''The contribution of melanin to microbial pathogenesis '', in: '' Cellular Microbiology''. Vol. 5, nº 4; 203–223. * 2002, with John R Perfect. '' Cryptococcosis'', in: ''Infectious disease clinics of North America''. Vol. 16, nº 4; 837–874. *2001, with JN Steenbergen and HA Shuman. ''Cryptococcus neoformans interactions with amoebae suggest an explanation for its virulence and intracellular pathogenic strategy in macrophages'', in: ''

''. Vol. 98, nº 26; 15245–15250. * 2000, with Gary M Cox, Jean Mukherjee, Garry T Cole, and John R Perfect. ''Urease as a virulence factor in experimental cryptococcosis'', in: '' Infection and Immunity''. Vol. 68, nº 2; 443–448. * 1999, with Sarah P Franzot and Ira F Salkin. '' Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii: separate varietal status for Cryptococcus neoformans serotype A isolates'', in: '' Journal of Clinical Microbiology''. Vol. 37, nº 3; 838–840. * 1999, with Liise-anne Pirofski, ''Host-pathogen interactions: redefining the basic concepts of virulence and pathogenicity '', in: '' Infection and Immunity''. Vol. 67, nº 8; 3703–3713.

References

External links

mBio Founding Editor in Chief

Faculty Webpage"Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in the Research of Health and Medicine" ''Johns Hopkins News-Letter'' coverage of the Osler Medical Symposium

Pubmed citations
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Casadevall, Arturo Johns Hopkins School of Medicine faculty Living people 1957 births Queens College, City University of New York alumni New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Academic journal editors Albert Einstein College of Medicine faculty Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty People from Elmhurst, Queens Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the National Academy of Medicine