Barry R. Bloom is

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Distinguished Service Professor and Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson Professor of Public Health in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Department of Global Health and Population in the

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, where he served as dean of the faculty from 1998 through December 31, 2008. As dean, he served as secretary treasurer for the Association of Schools of Public Health. Prior to that he served as chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...

from 1978 to 1990, the year in which he became an investigator of the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fil ...

, where he also served on the national advisory board. In 1978, he was a consultant to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

on international health policy.

Education

* A.B. (biology),

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

, 1958 * Ph.D. (immunology),

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

, 1963 * D.Sc. (Honorary),

Early life

Bloom notes that the influence of the numerous physicians in his family led him to believe that he would eventually become a physician practicing clinical medical.

Career

Bloom has been a leading scientist in various areas of

infectious diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity The adaptive immune system, also known as the acquired immune system, is a subsystem of the immune system that is composed of specialized, systemic cells and pro ...

, and

global health Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problem ...

, and is a former consultant to the

. Most of his research has been as the principal investigator of a laboratory researching the immune response to

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, a disease that claims more than 1.5 million lives each year. For more than 40 years, he has been extensively involved with the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

. He is currently chair of their Technical and Research Advisory Committee to the Global Programme on Malaria. He has also been a member of their Advisory Committee on Health Research, and chaired their Committees on Leprosy Research and Tuberculosis Research and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the United Nations Development Programme/World Bank/World Health Organization Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. Bloom serves on the editorial board of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. Bloom currently serves on the

Ellison Medical Foundation The Ellison Medical Foundation, a 501(c)(3) Private Nonoperating Foundation, was founded in 1997 and is located in Bethesda, Maryland. The foundation supported research in the following discipline areas: biomedical research on aging, age-relate ...

scientific advisory board and the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

Pathogens, Immunology and Population Health Strategy Committee. He is on the scientific advisory board of the

Earth Institute {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and the advisory council of the

Paul G. Rogers Paul Grant Rogers (June 4, 1921 – October 13, 2008) was an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of Florida. A Democrat, Rogers served in the U.S. House of Representatives as the member from Florida's 11th congressional distr ...

Society for Global Health Research. His past service includes membership on the national advisory council of the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's ...

, the scientific advisory board of the

National Center for Infectious Diseases National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

of the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

, and the national advisory board of the

Fogarty International Center The John E. Fogarty International Center was founded in 1968 by US President Lyndon Johnson at the National Institutes of Health to support international medical and behavioral research and to train international researchers. History On July 1, ...

at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, as well as the governing board of the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

. Bloom was the founding chair of the board of trustees for the

International Vaccine Institute The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is an independent, nonprofit, international organization founded on the belief that the health of children in developing countries can be dramatically improved by the use of new and improved vaccines. Work ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, which is devoted to promoting vaccine development for children in the developing world. He has chaired the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an e ...

, better known as UNAIDS, where he played a critical role in the debate surrounding the ethics of AIDS vaccine trials. He was also a member of the US AIDS Research Committee. He serves on the board of the US-China Health Summit. Bloom has offered expert analysis on the Covid-19 pandemic and in the fall of 2020 was asked to serve on the Massachusetts state advisory committee on coronavirus vaccines.

Current research

Dr. Bloom researches the mechanisms of immune protection against tuberculosis, as an investigator in a Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenge grant with Professor David Edwards the

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, offering degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted ...

, where they study nanoparticle technology to deliver needle-free spray-drying aerosol vaccines against experimental tuberculosis. This vitamin D-dependent antimicrobial killing mechanism is effective against ''

Mycobacterium tuberculosis ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (M. tb) is a species of pathogenic bacteria in the family Mycobacteriaceae and the causative agent of tuberculosis. First discovered in 1882 by Robert Koch, ''M. tuberculosis'' has an unusual, waxy coating on its c ...

'' and is found in human macrophages, and is unrelated to oxygen or nitrogen radicals. This may explain the greater susceptibility of people of African and Asian descent to tuberculosis.

Professional associations

Current service * National Advisory Board,

* Governing Board,

* National Advisory Council,

* Scientific Advisory Board, National Center for Infectious Diseases,

* National Advisory Board,

* Consultant on international health policy,

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

, 1978 * Past Secretary Treasurer, Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) (while dean of the faculty at HSPH) * Scientific Advisory Board,

* Pathogens, Immunology and Population Health Strategy Committee,

* Scientific Advisory Board, Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability,

* Advisory Council, Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research * Board, US-China Health Summit. Past service * Past President,

American Association of Immunologists The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) is an international scientific society dedicated to furthering the study of immunology. AAI provides its members with a variety of platforms in which to exchange ideas and present the latest immunolo ...

* Past President,

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is a non-profit organization that is the principal umbrella organization of U.S. societies in the field of biological and medical research. This organization organizes academi ...

* National Advisory Council,

* Scientific Advisory Board, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention * National Advisory Board, Fogarty International Center,

* Governing Board,

Awards

* Past President,

* Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Research in Infectious Diseases (first awardee) * Novartis Award for Clinical Immunology, 1998 (shared) *

Robert Koch Medal The Robert Koch Medal and Award are two prizes awarded annually by the German for excellence in the biomedical sciences. These awards grew out of early attempts by German physician Robert Koch to generate funding to support his research into the ...

for lifetime research in infectious diseases, 1999 * Member,

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

* Member,

Institutes of Medicine Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

* Member,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

* Member,

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

Publications

* A relatively complete list of major publications is found at th
Dr. Bloom's Harvard Catalyst researcher profile
* Bloom, BR, and Bennett B. “Mechanism of a reaction in vitro associated with delayed type hypersensitivity.” Science 153, no. 3731.

External references

Harvard Faculty profile for Barry R. Bloom

Harvard Faculty research profile for Barry R. Bloom

Harvard researcher profile for Barry R. Bloom
– extensive bibliography (290 publications)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloom, Barry Living people Malariologists Harvard School of Public Health faculty HIV/AIDS researchers American immunologists Amherst College alumni Rockefeller University alumni Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology Members of the National Academy of Medicine