by Bill Snyder
Donald Rubin, MD, professor of Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt, has received the alumni award for special achievement from his alma mater, the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
Rubin, who also is chief of the Research and Development Service at the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center, part of the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, was honored earlier this month during the college’s annual alumni reunion.
A member of the class of 1974, Rubin received his residency training at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York and was a fellow in Infectious Diseases and Molecular Virology at Harvard Medical School.
He taught at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine before joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 1992.
Rubin has been a pioneer in the study of host-pathogen interactions. In particular, he has developed a technology called “gene trapping” that can identify the host genes which are commandeered by viruses so they can replicate and infect more cells.
In 2007 he cofounded a company, Zirus, to advance the technology, which could lead to development of new, more effective anti-viral drugs that target host genes instead of viral proteins.
Rubin also has received several teaching awards and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014.