Our History

How we began

Seymour

In 1976, the Division of Infectious Diseases (founded in 1949) and the Division of Allergy (founded in 1954), were combined to form the new Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AID), led by Dr. Seymour Klebanoff.

Past Division Heads
This is unpublished

Overview

Our nationally and internationally prominent faculty leaders are working to solve the world’s most urgent health problems. We conduct innovative basic and clinical research in a wide range of areas, including treating and studying sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS, immunology and global health. 

Supported by training grants from the NIH, private funding agencies, and institutional sources, we offer postdoctoral fellowship training programs in infectious diseases, allergy and immunology, and global and rural health.

Past Division Heads

Wesley C. Van Voorhis

Wesley C. Van Voorhis

Wesley C. Van Voorhis, MD, PhD, served as the third AID Division Head (2007-2017). His research group uses emerging knowledge about the genomes of parasitic diseases such as malaria, cryptosporidiosis, African Sleeping Sickness, Chagas' disease, and leishmaniasis to aid in rational drug discovery.   

Walter E. Stamm

Walter E. Stamm

Walter E. Stamm, MD, was the second AID Division Head (1994-2007), and was recognized for his urinary tract infection and chlamydia and infection control research. Dr. Stamm served as the President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and received numerous honors and awards.

Seymour J. Klebanoff

Seymour J. Klebanoff

Seymour J. Klebanoff, MD, PhD, was the first AID Division Head (1976-1994), and was known for the discovery o myeloperoxidase as the mechanism of bacterial killing by neutrophils. Dr. Klebanoff trained AID fellows for nearly 20 years, many of whom became academic AID leaders.