Brian Wigdahl

Biography

 Brian Wigdahl, Ph.D., is professor and chair of Microbiology and Immunology, director of the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease, and director of the institute’s Center for Molecular Virology and Translational Neuroscience at the Drexel University College of Medicine. An internationally recognized molecular virologist, Dr. Wigdahl focuses his immediate research on the molecular mechanisms, treatment, and prevention of immunologic abnormalities, cancer, and progressive neurologic disorders caused by members of the retrovirus and herpesvirus families. He has a total of more than 200 published or in press peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Wigdahl has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, foundations, commercial sources for over 35 years, with awards totaling more than $40 million. Dr. Wigdahl has devoted substantial efforts to undergraduate student research training, medical and graduate education, and postdoctoral training, as well as research staff and junior faculty development. He is currently the executive director of the PhD/MS program in Molecular Medicine and six MS graduate programs including Infectious Disease, Immunology, Biomedicine and Business, Biomedicine and Law, Biomedicine and Entrepreneurship, and Biomedicine and Digital Design at Drexel in addition to his general oversight of the PhD Graduate Program in Microbiology and Immunology. He has trained more than 30 PhD students and 15 MS degree students (including 4 MD/PhD students) and 16 postdoctoral fellows during this 35year career at Penn State and Drexel.A senior associate editor of the Journal of NeuroVirology, Dr. Wigdahl also served for six years as president of the International Society for NeuroVirology, and currently serves as treasurer of the Society. During his time at Penn State, Dr. Wigdahl was awarded the Samuel Hinkle Society Outstanding Young Investigator award and more recently at Drexel University College of Medicine, the Julian Marsh, MD, Faculty Scholar Award for excellence in scientific research, outstanding teaching skills, and consistent high quality leadership. Dr. Wigdahl is the 2013 recipient of the International Society for NeuroVirology Pioneer in Neurovirology Award presented in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the field of neurovirology and the 2016 recipient of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology Wybran Award presented in recognition of the very best scientific contributions that have resulted in the preservation and expansion of the field of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.

Research Interest

 Immunopathogenesis and neuropathogenesis of HIV-1 and HTLV-I infection; transcriptional regulation of retroviral expression; viral sequence diversity and correlations to disease; development of microbicidal agents