Dr. Rafi Ahmed, Ph.D.
Director, Emory Vaccine Center, and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the Emory University School of Medicine
Dr. Ahmed holds the title of Georgia Research Alliance Scholar in Vaccine Research and is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the Emory University School of Medicine. He received his undergraduate degree from Osmania Universityin Hyderabad, India and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His research efforts are directed towards understanding the mechanisms of immunological memory and using this knowledge to develop new and more effective vaccines. Dr. Ahmed and his colleagues have made significant discoveries about how immune memory cells are created and how long they survive - crucial information for the development of vaccines for HIV and other infectious agents. Most recently his work has focused on rejuvenating the immune response to chronic viral infections. Dr. Ahmed was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences.