Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, is the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine and a professor of molecular microbiology and of pathology and immunology at the Washington University School of Medicine. He is also an associate director for the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Programs. He is recognized internationally for his work involving Zika, West Nile, chikungunya, SARS-CoV-2, and other emerging RNA viruses, in which he seeks to understand how these viruses cause illness and interact with and evade the body’s defences.

During the summer of 2020 he developed the first mouse model of SARS-CoV-2, which subsequently facilitated the development of a nasal vaccine that prevented infection in mice, hamsters, and non-human primates. Diamond and his team also recently identified a receptor-decoy molecule that protects mice from brain infections caused by Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV), a mosquito-borne virus notorious for causing fast-spreading, deadly outbreaks in Mexico, Central America and northern South America. This molecule could serve as a much-needed tool to control the deadly virus, which is expected to expand its range as the climate changes.

Dr. Diamond is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the National Academy of Inventors, and the National Academy of Medicine. He is a past Burroughs Wellcome Fund and Ellison Medical Foundation awards recipient, as well as a recipient of Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He is currently a member of the scientific advisory board of the Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease program at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and an elected Councilor for the Association of American Physicians.