Alan Aderem

Who is Alan Aderem?

Alan Aderem, PhD, is a biologist, specializing in immunology and cell biology. Dr. Aderem's particular focus is the innate immune system, the part of the immune system that responds generically to pathogens. His laboratory’s research focuses on diseases afflicting citizens of resource poor countries, including AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and influenza.

In 2012, Dr. Aderem became President of Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, the largest independent non-profit organization in the U.S. focused solely on infectious disease research. A pioneer in systems biology, Dr. Aderem is integrating systems approaches into Seattle BioMed’s research programs in order to accelerate vaccine and drug development. Dr. Aderem co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology with Leroy Hood and Ruedi Aebersold in 2000 and served as its Director until 2011. The ISB, the first institute for systems biology worldwide, focuses on a holistic understanding of biology, health, and disease.

A native of South Africa, Dr. Aderem obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Cape Town and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The Rockefeller University in the laboratory of Dr. Zanvil Cohn. Dr. Aderem rose through the ranks at The Rockefeller University, becoming head of the laboratory of Signal Transduction in 1991. In 1996, he accepted a professorship of Immunology and Medicine at the University of Washington.