Michael S. McGrath, MD, PhD
Professor, Departments of Laboratory Medicine, Pathology, and Medicine, UCSF
Professor, Departments of Laboratory Medicine, Pathology, and Medicine, UCSF
Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, I have been involved in studying the role of macrophages in the pathogenesis of a wide variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. The primary model systems for these studies revolved around the study of HIV-infected macrophages and their influence on the brain, as well as in lymphoma. Through the study of HIV, I have gained important insight into the pathogenesis of other non-HIV diseases that seem to operate in the same manner as those associated with HIV infection. A critical component of the studies performed over the past 30 years was the creation of the ACSR, a central NCI-sponsored program of which I have been the PI since 1994. Access to well-preserved tissues from patients with a wide variety of AIDS-related conditions has allowed the discovery of fundamental mechanisms of disease that would never have been made otherwise. Through study of ACSR specimen sets, we have discovered that HIV-infected macrophages persist in tissues long after the blood has been cleared of infectious HIV. In fact, recent evidence suggests that infected macrophages play central roles in the pathogenesis of major post-cART diseases, such as cancer and heart disease. The current ACSR program will continue to expand investigator access to biospecimens for HIV-associated cancer research.
University of Minnesota, B.S., 1974, Biology Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine, M.D., 1980, Medicine
Stanford University School of Medicine, Ph.D., 1981, Cancer Biology