Chair and Professor Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology

Arnold 8 Biosafety Laboratory Individual. Community. World.

John M Leong, MD, PhD

In the fall of 2011, Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences welcomed John Leong as chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology. Dr. Leong's career has focused on studying pathogens that cause human disease and finding ways to reduce their harmful effects, including those that cause food poisoning and intestinal distress (E. coli), lung infection (Streptococcus pneumoniae), and Lyme disease (Borreliae burgdorferi). His research explores how pathogens interact with the body’s cells and promote the spread of disease as well as how they may trigger immune responses that promote their clearance.

The work of researchers in the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology is vitally important to understanding infectious diseases, and to discovering new kinds of detection and treatment. The department’s faculty members have received distinctive recognition -- a research professorship from the American Cancer Society, membership in the National Academy of Sciences, and selection as investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Faculty members have received awards for research excellence and for their work in chemotherapy and infectious disease research. Dr. Leong is committed to continuing the department's traditions in both microbial science and pathogenesis and maintaining the collegiality and spirit of cooperation that characterizes the faculty, staff and trainees.

"During the last few decades, new disease-causing organisms have emerged and some diseases previously under control have re-emerged in more serious strains. There is a great need for research on these diseases and their causes," he notes. “Our team is committed to helping to develop innovative ways to detect, prevent, and treat many important world-wide microbial pathogens.”

Dr. Leong is not new to the Tufts community; after completing his MD-PhD at Brown University, he came to TUSM as a postdoctoral fellow in 1987 to study with Dr. Ralph Isberg. He then joined the TUSM faculty as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and Immunology at Tufts Medical Center. In 1995, Dr. Leong accepted a position at University of Massachusetts Medical School. During his 16 years at UMass, he conducted important research on the ways bacteria induce disease. Prior to coming to TUSM, he was Professor and Vice Chair of Microbiology and Physiological Systems.

Dr. Leong’s distinguished career includes appointments as a Pew Scholar and an American Heart Association Established Investigator, and service on the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Center for Scientific Review and the editorial boards of medical and bioscience journals. His work has appeared in over 80 peer-reviewed publications and is funded by several research grants from the NIH.

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