Gabriel Nunez, MD
Julius Stone Lecture
Title: Pathogen-Host Interactions in the Skin
Gabriel Nuñez, M.D., is the Paul de Kruif Endowed Professor in Academic Pathology at the University of Michigan. He received his M.D. degree from the University of Seville, Spain and postdoctoral training in Immunology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. Dr. Nuñez completed his residency training in Anatomical Pathology at Washington University in St Louis. In 1987, he joined the laboratory of Stanley Korsmeyer at Washington University in Saint Louis, where he studied the function of the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-2. In 1991, he joined the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as an Assistant Professor, and was promoted to full Professor in 2001.
Dr. Nuñez is recognized worldwide as one of the foremost experts in gastrointestinal and systemic inflammation, host-microbial interactions, and mucosal immunology. His laboratory identified NOD1 and NOD2, the first members of the Nod-like receptor (NLR) family, a class of pattern-recognition receptors that mediate cytosolic sensing of microbial organisms. Nuñez and colleagues showed that genetic variation in a NLR family member, NOD2, is strongly associated with susceptibility to Crohn’s disease. Dr. Nuñez is the author of more than 350 scientific publications which have resulted in more than 100,000 citations. A prolific speaker, Dr. Nuñez has given more than 450 scientific lectures worldwide. He has mentored more than 100 scientists including 64 postdoctoral fellows. The great majority of his trainees are independent investigators and members of the Faculty of academic institutions in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Dr. Nuñez has received numerous awards during his career including the Dean’s Achievement Award in Basic Science and Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award from the University of Michigan Medical School, Merit Award from the National Institutes of Health, and the Rous-Whipple Award from the American Society of Investigative Pathology. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. His research program is supported by several RO1 grants from the National Institutes of Health.