James McKerrow

James McKerrow, M.D. Ph.D. is the second dean of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UCSD. Previously he was the Principal Investigator, Sandler Center, UCSF holding the Robert E. Smith Endowed Chair in Experimental Pathology, at UCSF, was Director of the Tropical Disease Research Unit, and Director of the Sandler Center of Basic Research in Parasitic Diseases. His research interests are in the biochemistry and molecular biology of parasitic diseases. They work on tropical parasites like Schistosoma mansoni (bilharzia, blood fluke), Entamoeba histolytica (amebiasis), and Onchocerca volvulus (the agent of African River Blindness), and Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas' disease). The major research themes are molecular mechanisms of host invasion and virulence, gene regulation during parasite development, and structural analysis of parasite enzymes. Dr. McKerrow earned a Ph.D. in Biology from UC San Diego, and his MD at the University of New York, Stony Brook. He did his medical residency and postdoctoral work at UCSF.