Don Ganem

Don Ganem is a virologist and infectious diseases specialist who brings industry as well as academic experience to CZ Biohub. He is Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Medicine at UCSF, where for 30 years he led a research laboratory focused on the replication and pathogenesis of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). While at UCSF he also collaborated extensively with Joe DeRisi on the discovery and characterization of novel human and veterinary pathogens through their unique fusion of metagenomics, bioinformatics, virology and clinical investigation. In 2011, Don left UCSF to become Global Head of Infectious Diseases Research at Novartis, where he led programs that developed new antibiotics for multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria and novel antivirals for influenza, herpesviruses, picornaviruses and polyomaviruses. Don is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology, as well as a Past President of the American Society for Virology. He joined CZ Biohub in January 2019 as Senior Advisor to our Infectious Disease programs.