John E Edwards

   John E. Edwards, MD

   Distinquished Professor of Medicine

   Chief, Medical Branch of Infectious Diseases

   Department of Medicine

   David Geffen School of Medicine at Harbor

   UCLA

   Los Angeles, CA  USA

Dr. Jack Edwards is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center.  He is also Chief of Infectious Diseases at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center and will complete 33 years in that position in 2014.  He is also member of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor/UCLA.  He is a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.  He has been elected to membership in the American Association of Physicians.  He is a primary co-founder and was a co-director (13 years) of the Woods Hole, MBL Course on the Molecular Biology of the Pathogenic Fungi, and is also a co-founder of the international ASM Conference on Candida and Candidiasis.  He has spent over 30 years conducting basic research funded from the National Institutes of health on the pathogenesis of opportunistic fungal infections.  He has also contributed to clinical research on fungal infections and was the Chairman of the  NIH Mycosis Study Group Candida subproject.  He is currently an advisory member of the MSG Counsel.  He has published over 250 articles, chapters  related to infectious diseases, including current chapters in Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine and Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Edwards has been a counselor of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and has served as the Chair of the Infectious Disease Society Public Policy Committee.  He has also been the Chairman of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Clinical Center at the NIH, and is the former acting chairman of the Anti-Infective Advisory Committee of the FDA.   He has also served as an elected counselor for the International Immunocompromised Host Society and the IDSA.  He has served a term as a member of the IDSA Antimicrobial Availability Task Force.  He has been awarded an honorary D.Sc. degree from Pomona College and a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of California, Irvine Alumni Association.  Dr. Edwards and his group have studied the basic pathogenesis of opportunistic fungal infections, with an emphasis on Candida infection throughout his career.  The work began with studies of hematogenous Candida endopthalmitis but then generalized to studies of Candida/host cell interactions focused on adherence and invasion.  The group has diversified into studies of the pathogenesis and treatment of both zygomycosis led by Dr. Ashraf Abraham and aspergillosis led by Dr. Scott Filler.  Presently the research focus is on developing a vaccine against Candida and Staphyococcus to be used primarily for healthcare-associated infections.  It is based on their discovery of an endothelial adhesion molecule on Candida which is responsible for the adherence of the organism to human cells. Of particular interest is the discovery by Dr. Yeaman that the candidal adhesin has 3 dimensional (3D) homology with cell surface proteins on Staphylococcus.   This work has become translational in nature. Through funding from NIH, the U.S. Military and private sources it has been advanced from the university basic science laboratories into Phase 1 clinical trials in humans.  This translation “from bench to bedside” is in keeping with current interests and trends of the NIH “roadmap.”