Michael Boeckh, MD, PhD
Professor and Head of Infectious Disease Sciences Program
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutch
Professor
Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutch
Dr. Michael Boeckh is an expert in infections that affect patients whose immune systems are weakened by illness, chemotherapy or blood stem cell transplantation. His research focuses on herpes viruses, respiratory viruses and the genetic factors that make individuals susceptible to them. His group conducts clinical trials testing ways to prevent and treat infection by common viruses such as cytomegalovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus and rhinovirus. In patients with weakened immunity, these can cause serious lung disease and death. The team also studies certain herpes viruses that can reactivate in cancer patients long after they were first infected. One such virus, HHV-6, is responsible for the common childhood rash roseola. It often flares up in patients who have received blood stem cell transplants. For them, the virus may raise the risk of central nervous system infections and graft-vs.-host disease, two frequent and potentially deadly complications. He is co-leader of the CovidWatch study, which sends home test kits to at-risk frontline workers, so researchers can track COVID-19 infections. He also leads a trial at the Hutch’s COVID-19 Clinical Research Center evaluating potential outpatient treatments.
Clinical Expertise
Infections in the immunocompromised host, especially diagnosis, prevention and treatment of CMV, VZV, BK virus, adenovirus, and respiratory virus infections
Teaching and Mentoring Interests
Infections in the immunocompromised host: biomarker, outcome research
Genetic basis of infectious complications
Other Appointments & Affiliations
Professor, Medicine, University of WashingtonProfessor, Medicine
University of Washington
Attending Physician and Head, Infectious Disease Consulting Service
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Education
Freie Universitat Berlin, 1988, PhD (Medicine)
Freie Universitat Berlin, 1985, MD
Research Interests
Cytomegalovirus: immune reconstitution, virus-host interactions, diagnostic, mechanisms of primary CMV infection via blood and stem cell products, impact in immunocompetent subjects with acute lung injury, prevention in transplant recipients
Respiratory virus infections in immunocompromised hosts: biomarkers, molecular diagnostics, disease associations, pathogenesis, immune response, treatment, prevention
Genetic basis of infection complications in transplant recipients: whole genome studies and gene expression studies
Infections in the immunocompromised host: disease manifestations, risk factors, and outcome studies