The George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences is pleased to announce that Michael I. Bukrinsky, MD, PhD, will serve as interim chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine.
In this role, Bukrinsky will lead the department as it conducts innovative, fundamental, basic, and translational research on HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases. He will continue the department’s strong tradition of research, training and policy advocacy for these infectious and parasitic diseases, which initiate and perpetuate poverty and suffering worldwide.
“Researchers in our department have articles appearing in the world’s highest impact journals and receive millions of dollars in grant funding,” said Bukrinsky. “They seek answers to some of the field’s most persistent questions about HIV and neglected diseases. I am honored to serve in this position.”
Bukrinsky, professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine and of biochemistry and molecular medicine, studies HIV biology and inflammatory diseases. Bukrinsky and his lab are currently involved in the following research projects: i) analysis of cholesterol metabolism in HIV-infected cells; ii) design and analysis of anti-HIV compounds; iii) studies of HIV-associated neurocognitive disease; iv) studies on the role of a new pro-inflammatory factor discovered by Bukrinsky — extracellular cyclophilin — in inflammatory disease pathogenesis; v) studies of HIV infection of macrophages. Bukrinsky is also actively involved in education activities, including international programs with Russia and Australia.
Bukrinsky has published more than 170 research articles and peer-reviewed chapters and reviews. He also holds 12 patents. He is editor for Advances in Virology, contributing editor for Molecular Medicine, and editor-in-chief for Open AIDS Journal. He has been invited to lecture around the world on HIV. He is a member of the District of Columbia Center for AIDS Research where he directs the Developmental Core, and the GW Institute for Biomedical Sciences. He is also a member of the International AIDS Society. He was awarded as a Fellow of the American Heart Association in 2011, the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for GW Scholarship in 2011, and the GW Distinguished Scientist Award in 2007. He has mentored and advised dozens of students during his time at GW.
Previous to joining GW, Bukrinsky was a professor at the Picower Institute for Medical Research. Prior to that, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Bukrinsky earned his PhD from the Laboratory of Nucleic Acids Biosynthesis at the Institute of Molecular Biology, USSR Academy of Sciences. He received his MD from the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute in Moscow, USSR.
