Joel N. Blankson is a professor at the

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, th ...

in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases.Infectious Diseases Society of America
IDSA guide to infectious diseases training programs. Blankson is an expert on

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

infection, particularly

HIV latency Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has the capability to enter a latent stage of infection where it exists as a dormant provirus in CD4+ T-cells. Most latently infected cells are resting memory T cells, however a small fraction of latently infec ...

and long-term control of HIV infection. He is a lead investigator in studies on these topics"'Elite' HIV wife may hold secret to AIDS vaccine"
Maggie Fox, Reuters, August 12, 2008. and is frequently interviewed in the scientific and popular press. Blankson also practices

internal Internal may refer to: *Internality as a concept in behavioural economics *Neijia, internal styles of Chinese martial arts *Neigong or "internal skills", a type of exercise in meditation associated with Daoism * ''Internal'' (album) by Safia, 2016 ...

and infectious diseases medicine in

Lutherville Lutherville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,504. Prior to 2010 the area was part of the Lutherville-Timonium CDP. Within its borders lies the Luthe ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Training and career

In 1995, Blankson received an MD he earned at the

Cornell University Medical School Weill Cornell Medicine (; officially Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University), originally Cornell University Medical College, is the medical school of Cornell University, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in Ne ...

, now known as Weil Cornell, in

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 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. His

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

was awarded by

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

in 1996 as part of a joint MD-PhD program with Cornell and

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute– designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is ...

. At Rockefeller, Blankson conducted

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 ...

research with

Stephen S. Morse Stephen S. Morse (born November 22, 1951) is an American epidemiology, epidemiologist, influenza researcher and specialist on emerging infectious diseases, who has served as an adviser on the epidemiology of infectious diseases and on improving dise ...

. Blankson completed residencies in infectious diseases and internal medicine at Johns Hopkins. He has practiced medicine in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

and Maryland. He is currently a professor in the Johns Hopkins Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and has an appointment in the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology.

Research

After his PhD research on

and residencies at Johns Hopkins, Blankson investigated HIV at Johns Hopkins with Robert Siliciano. Their work together has included research on HIV pathogenesis, immune reconstitution, control of viremia, and HIV viral reservoirs. They also reviewed the concept of "structured therapeutic interruption." More recently, Blankson has led investigations of ''elite suppressors'' of HIV-1 infection. Elite suppressors are people who are infected with HIV-1 but naturally suppress the amount of virus in their blood to very low, almost undetectable levels without use of

antiretroviral drug The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple Antiviral drug, antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV/AIDS, HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV li ...

s. Only 1 HIV-positive person out of approximately 300 is in this category. Blankson and other investigators suggest the biological mechanisms of this rare phenomenon may hold the key to new treatments for HIV. As of 2019, Blankson had published more than 50 scientific articles related to elite suppressors, and he has been interviewed extensively in the popular and scientific press.italiainformazioni.com (in Italian)
"Forse c'è una speranza per debellare l'Aids. I medici "studiano" il caso di una donna affetta da 10 anni senza sintomi" ("Possible hope in the fight against AIDS. Doctors study the case of a woman infected for ten years without symptoms"), ''Italia Informazioni,'' August 13, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blankson, Joel N. American infectious disease physicians American medical researchers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Johns Hopkins University faculty People from Lutherville, Maryland Weill Cornell Medical College alumni