AIDS Researcher Robert Doms, MD, PhD, Named AAAS Fellow

Several researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania were recently named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Children’s Hospital AIDS researcher and Pathologist-in-chief Robert W. Doms, MD, PhD, who also serves as chair of the Perelman School of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology, was named an AAAS Fellow along with four UPenn investigators.

Dr. Doms and his colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania — Frederic D. Bushman, PhD, Andrew Dancis, MD, J. Kevin Foskett, PhD, and Philip A. Rea, DPhil — were among 388 scientists and researchers recently named AAAS Fellows. Elected by their peers, AAAS Fellows “are recognized for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications,” according to the AAAS site. The 2013 Fellows will be honored at the 2014 AAAS Annual Meeting in February, and “will receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette as a symbol of their distinguished accomplishments.”

After more than two decades at the University of Pennsylvania — where he retains a dual appointment — Dr. Doms joined Children’s Hospital as its pathologist-in-chief in September. Dr. Doms first came to UPenn in 1992, and in 2001 was named chair of the Department of Microbiology. He received his MD and PhD from Yale in 1988, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH in 1992.

Much of Dr. Doms’ research has been focused on AIDS pathogenesis and how viruses enter cells, but more recently his lab has also studied West Nile Virus and other emerging pathogens. He has won a number of awards for his work, including the Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award from the Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

The publisher of Science, the Washington, DC-based AAAS “is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association.”

To read more about the recently elected group of AAAS Fellows, see the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s press release.