A Word from the Director
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Mark J. Soloski, Ph.D.
Director, Graduate Program in Immunology
Professor, Molecular and Clinical Rheumatology
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Greetings and welcome to the Johns Hopkins Immunology Graduate Program Web site
and thank you for your interest in Immunology and in our Program. As Director of
the program I'd like to give you a brief overview of the program itself, its history,
and its direction for the future.
The immunology program started in 1982, some twenty years ago, with two students
and a handful of faculty. Since then we have grown to 30 students currently in training
(we accepted 8 last year!) and 31 faculty. The faculty interests span the entire
gamut of Immunology research, from basic issues such as the mechanisms of somatic
hypermutation and hypervariablity in B cells, T cell recognition, molecular mechanisms
of MHC-peptide interactions, and lymphocyte signaling to translatable research in
the fields of cancer vaccines, allergy, infectious disease, autoimmunity and transplantation.
Our growth in faculty has been steady and I am excited to say will continue into
the foreseeable future. We have several new Immunology initiatives in Basic Sciences
and Cellular Engineering, Autoimmunity and Cancer Immunology, all of which will
mean even more opportunities for students to do cutting edge Immunology research
at Hopkins. It is indeed and exciting time for Immunology at Hopkins.
As director of a graduate training program, I am charged with the responsibility
of ensuring that our students get the best education that we can possibly provide.
Fortunately that is an easy task at an environment such as Johns Hopkins. We are
able to offer one of the most rigorous and expansive scientific training arenas
in the world. The large number of accomplished biomedical scientists, the focus
on interdisciplinary training, coupled with a collegial environment affords our
students a unique opportunity to not only develop as the next generation of scientists,
but to make significant contributions to their selected field of study. Please take
the time to look over our program, as well as explore living in the great city of
Baltimore and the State of Maryland. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Mark J. Soloski