Ofer Zimmerman, MD, joined the Department of Medicine on July 1, 2020 as an Instructor in the Division of Allergy and Immunology.
Dr. Zimmerman obtained his medical degree from Sackler School of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University in Israel. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. During his training in Infectious Diseases he developed an interest in host-pathogen interactions and more specifically why particular infections pose a greater risk for some patients. Around the same time, he took his first steps as a physician-scientist studying the anti-microbial resistance of Candida glabrata.
In 2014, Dr. Zimmerman moved to the United States for a research fellowship at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at the National Institutes of Health. He joined Dr. Steven Holland’s lab, where he studied primary immune disorders associated with Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) 1 and 3 pathogenic variants. Due to his interest and passion in treating patients with primary immunodeficiency disorders and infectious diseases, he decided to complete a second clinical fellowship in Allergy and Immunology to fully and formally complement his infectious diseases background.
In 2017, Dr. Zimmerman joined the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Washington University as a clinical fellow and in 2018, he joined Dr. Michael Diamond’s laboratory in the Division of Infectious Diseases. His research focuses on the MXRA8 receptor in Chikungunya and other alphaviruses. He is studying the role of human MXRA8 genetic polymorphism on host susceptibility to Chikungunya infection. Dr. Zimmerman’s ultimate goal is to treat patients with primary immunodeficiency disorders and study genetic factors affecting human susceptibility to opportunistic infections and the host-pathogen interaction.