|
|
About Ralph M. Steinman, M.D.
Dr Ralph Steinman obtained an MD, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1968, completed his internship and residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and then went to Rockefeller University where he completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Drs. Cohn and Hirsch in 1970. He then advanced to Professor and Senior Physician at the Laboratory of Cellular Physiology and Immunology. In 1995 he was named Henry G. Kunkel Professor. Dr Steinman has received a large number of awards, the first when he was only 20 years old. These include the Emil von Behring Prize in 1996, the Rudolf Virchow Medal in 1997, the Max Planck Award in 1998, and the Robert Koch Prize in 1999. Dr. Steinman has two honorary doctorates and became a member of U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2001. One of his several editorial duties is to serve as Editor of The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Dr. Steinman has made many profound contributions to science. Most notably, he has elucidated the role of dendritic cells in antigen presentation and thereby made a fundamental contribution to the whole field of immunology, including immune responses to bacteria, viruses, cancer cells and allotransplants, as well as the area of autoimmunity. Although Langerhans described "his" cells some 100 years ago, the discoveries by Dr. Steinman have shown the importance of these and other cells involved in antigen presentation to generate and regulate immunological responses. It is therefore particularly fitting that he has been selected for the Langerhans-Virchow Lectureship.
|
