Ferric C. Fang is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

microbiologist. He is a Professor of

Laboratory Medicine A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical Medical labor ...

Pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

, and Microbiology at the

University of Washington School of Medicine The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Grad ...

, as well as the director of the

Harborview Medical Center Harborview Medical Center is a public hospital located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is managed by UW Medicine. Overview Harborview Medical Center is the designated Disaster Control Hospital for Seat ...

's Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. Prior to joining the University of Washington in 2001, he taught at the

University of Colorado School of Medicine The University of Colorado School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Colorado system. It is located at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, one of the four University of Colorado campuses, six miles east of downtow ...

. From 2007 to 2017, he was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of ''

Infection and Immunity ''Infection and Immunity'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Society for Microbiology. It focuses on interactions between bacterial, fungal, or parasitic pathogens and their hosts. Areas covered include molecular pathogen ...

'', and he was the deputy editor of ''

Clinical Infectious Diseases ''Clinical Infectious Diseases'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by Oxford University Press covering research on the pathogenesis, clinical investigation, medical microbiology, diagnosis, immune mechanisms, and treatment of diseases ...

'' from 2016 to 2021. He is currently an editor of

Clinical Microbiology Reviews ''Clinical Microbiology Reviews'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering the areas of clinical microbiology, immunology, medical microbiology, infectious diseases, veterinary microbiology, and microbial pathogenesis. It is a delayed open acces ...

. He has been a member of the

American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...

since 1998, as well as an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Biography

Fang grew up in

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California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, the son of a doctor. He attended

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 high ...

, where he received his A.B. in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

in 1979; he went on to receive his M.D. from

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in 1983.

Research

Fang's research interests include studying the antimicrobial activity of reactive nitrogen and oxygen species against ''

Salmonella enterica ''Salmonella enterica'' (formerly ''Salmonella choleraesuis'') is a rod-headed, flagellate, facultative anaerobic, Gram-negative bacterium and a species of the genus ''Salmonella''. A number of its serovars are serious human pathogens. Epidemi ...

'' and '' Staphylococcus aureus''. His laboratory also discovered the process of xenogeneic silencing, whereby bacteria incorporate foreign DNA into regulatory pathways. He became interested in studying scientific retractions after he retracted six papers that had been published in ''Infection and Immunity''. He subsequently began studying the subject in more detail with another of the journal's editors, Arturo Casadevall. They published a paper on the subject in 2011, in which they coined the term " retraction index". He has also catalogued the incidence of

scientific fraud Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research. A '' Lancet'' review on ''Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countrie ...

, and published a study in 2012 finding that such fraud has become increasingly common in recent years. In 2014, he co-authored another study showing that every paper retracted because of

scientific misconduct Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research. A '' Lancet'' review on ''Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countrie ...

costs 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 ...

about $400,000 on average. In 2023, he and Casadevall published "Thinking About Science: Good Science, Bad Science, and How to Make It Better" (ASM/Wiley), a collection of essays.

References

External links

Fang's CV
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fang, Ferric C. American microbiologists Living people University of Washington faculty University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus faculty Medical journal editors Harvard Medical School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)