It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Jennifer Philips MD, PhD, has accepted the position as Co-Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in the Department of Medicine. Dr. William Powderly will continue as Co-Director of the Division overseeing the clinical faculty, operations, research and educational programs. Dr. Philips will take over for Dr. Daniel Goldberg leading the basic research faculty, physician-scientist trainees and wet lab research programs in the Infectious Diseases divisions. Dr. Goldberg, The David M. and Paula L. Kipnis Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Professor of Molecular Microbiology has been the Co-Director of the Infectious Diseases division since 2000, and the head of the microbial Pathogenesis Training Grant since 2004. Dr. Goldberg has served in many important roles at Washington University including heading the medical scientist training program (MSTP) for many years, and serving in multiple leadership roles in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences. Given his longstanding service to research administration and graduate training, it is important that we now provide Dr. Goldberg the pleasure of focusing on his laboratory and transition the ID leadership to another outstanding physician scientist, Dr. Jen Philips.
Dr. Philips received her BA in Biochemistry, graduating summa cum laude from Columbia University in New York. She received her MD and PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. She did her internal medicine residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA and her clinical infectious diseases training in the combined Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital ID fellowship in Boston. She continued her research training in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School working with Drs. Norbert Perrimon and Eric Rubin. At Harvard, she performed the first genome-wide RNAi screening of host factors required for intracellular bacterial infections and characterized molecular factors associated with restricting mycobacterial growth. After her fellowship training, Dr. Philips worked as a Translational Medicine Expert in the Infectious Disease Area of Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research in Cambridge, MA for two years, while also serving as clinical faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, before being recruited to NYU School of Medicine in 2009. While at NYU, Dr. Philips served as the Co-Director for their MSTP. In 2015, Dr. Philips was recruited to Washington University School of Medicine where she has continued to excel as a physician scientist, clinician and research mentor. Dr. Philips’ research focuses on Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence factors, metabolism and immunology.
Dr. Philips has been recognized with the Maxwell Finland Award for Excellence in Research, the Michael Saperstein Medical Scholar award, The Astellas Young Investigator Award, the Colton Family Scholar Award and the Gerald Weissman Young Scholars Society award. Early in her career, she received the Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award and the Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation Award. She currently has two R01s and an R21 for her work on the Role of EsxG-EsxH in M. tuberculosis Pathogenesis (R01 AI087682), the Mechanism of Innate Immune Evasion by M tuberculosis (R01 AI130454) and Targeting Fatty Acid Metabolism to Treat TB (1 R21 AI128427).
Dr. Philips is recognized for her scientific accomplishments, her collaborative leadership style, and commitment to mentoring the next generation of infectious disease physicians and scientists. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Philips on her new leadership role.
Victoria J. Fraser, MD
Adolphus Busch Professor of Medicine
Chairman, Department of Medicine