Jim Kublin, MD, MPH
Principal Staff Scientist
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutch
Executive Director
HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN)
Medical Director
Seattle Malaria Clinical Trials Center (Seattle MCTC)
Dr. Jim Kublin is a global health expert who works on the development of vaccines and treatments for life-threatening infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and COVID-19. As executive director of the Hutch-headquartered HIV Vaccine Trials Network, he coordinates its massive international efforts to test candidate vaccines. He plays a similar role for the COVID-19 Prevention Network, which manages large-scale testing of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. In his own lab, his team conducts preclinical studies of the effects of the microbiome on vaccines, focusing on how responses of the immune system are changed by interactions with specific microbes that live naturally in the gut of humans and animals. Dr. Kublin is also medical director of the Hutch-affiliated Seattle Malaria Clinical Trials Center, where he oversees studies on new malaria drugs and vaccines.
Other Appointments & Affiliations
Clinical Professor, Global Health, University of WashingtonClinical Professor, Global Health
University of Washington
Education
MPH, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 1997
MD, Georgetown University School of Medicine, 1988
BS, Biology, Georgetown University, 1984
Research Interests
HIV and tuberculosis (Tb) vaccine research and development
Human challenge experiments
Microbiome modulation of immunity
Immune activation—polymicrobial infections
Combination HIV prevention
Malaria clinical trials/vaccines
Molecular epidemiology
Current Projects
Developing and testing preventive HIV and Tb vaccines via the HVTN
The role of the microbiome in training the immune system, particularly during early life, that predisposes individuals to immune mediated diseases later in life and that results in vaccine response heterogeneity.
"Large trials require formidable infrastructure and training and raise standards of clinical care — a lasting resource."
— Dr. Jim Kublin