David S. Perlin, Ph.D.

Infectious Diseases

Dr. Perlin is director of the Public Health Research Institute (PHRI), a well-known and established biomedical research organization specializing in infectious diseases that was recently established as a Center of Excellence at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Perlin helped establish PHRI as one of the leading tuberculosis (TB) and opportunistic infections research organizations in the world, and he was instrumental in the creation of the International Center for Public Health on the UMDNJ campus in Newark, NJ. He is an expert in drug resistant fungal infections and rapid diagnosis of opportunistic pathogens in high-risk patients. His laboratory is supported by grants from the NIH, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pharma and biotech sectors. He is on the editorial board of several scientific journals, participates in NIH reviews of grants and contracts, and attends expert panels for large Pharma. Dr. Perlin serves on the Board of Directors of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and Scientific/Medical Advisory Boards for Elusys Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Myconostica, LTD, BioDelivery Sciences Int’l., and PinnacleCare. He is also a member of the New York City Department of Health Advisory Panel on Bioterrorism and Emerging Infections, the New York Academy of Sciences Emerging Infectious Diseases Advisory Group, and the Executive Committee of the Northeast Biodefense Center. Dr. Perlin was a special consultant to the US Senate Finance Committee’s investigation of the October 2001 anthrax outbreak. Most recently, he has worked with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences to develop programs on TB and molecular diagnosis of emerging infections in China.

Dr. Perlin earned a B.A. degree in Biology from Brandeis University in 1976 and a Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1980. He pursued postdoctoral studies at the Yale University School of Medicine and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Perlin joined PHRI in 1985; he was named Scientific Director in 1992, President in 2005, and Director of the new Center in 2006. He was appointed Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at New Jersey Medical School-UMDNJ in 2003, and was named a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences in 2005.

He regularly lectures on issues of global infectious diseases, drug resistance, and hospital-acquired infections, and frequently comments in the New York Times and other media outlets. Dr. Perlin has written or co-authored more than 100+ articles, chapters and books.

Profile

• Executive Director and Professor, Public Health Research Institute, Rutgers– New Jersey Medical School
• Director, Rutgers Regional Biocontainment Laboratory
• Member, Executive Committee, Northeast Biodefense Center
• Fellow, New York Academy of Sciences

Education

Ph.D., Plant Physiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1980

Post-doctorate

• Biochemistry/Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, 1982
• Biochemistry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, 1985