Catherine Blish, MD, PhD

Biography

Catherine Blish, MD, PhD is the George E. and Lucy Becker Professor of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She has a joint appointment in the Stanford Immunology Program, is the Associate Dean for Basic and Translational Research, and the Co-Director of the Stanford Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), our MD-PhD Program. She is also an Investigator of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. As an undergraduate she studied Biochemistry at the University of California, Davis, before completing her MD and PhD in Immunology at the University of Washington, followed by residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington. In August 2011, she joined the faculty at Stanford.

Her research is dedicated to learning how to harness the immune system to prevent and cure diseases. Her lab studies host-pathogen interactions, with a particular focus on innate immune responses to a diverse array of pathogens including HIV, dengue virus, influenza, tuberculosis, and SARS-CoV-2. She divides her time between research, clinical practice in infectious diseases, teaching, and her administrative roles. She has received numerous awards for research and mentoring, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, and the NIDA Avant-Garde Award for HIV/AIDS Research, the Beckman Young Investigator Award, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Scientist Development Award, the Burroughs Wellcome Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award, the McCormick Faculty Award, the Western Society for Clinical Investigation Outstanding Investigator Award, and Stanford Immunology Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, among others. She is an elected a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians.