Ali Naji, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr.
Ali Naji is the J. William White Professor of Surgery, director of the
JDRF-Penn Islet Transplantation Program, and associate director of the
Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism at the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Naji completed his clinical residency
and fellowship training in general, vascular and transplantation surgery
at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Dr.
Naji has served on several NIH study sections including Surgery/Anesthesia/Trauma,
Immunological Sciences and Transplantation/Tolerance/Tumor Immunology.
He is an associate editor for the journals Transplantation, Diabetes
and Transplantation Immunology. His basic research efforts have focused
on the immunobiology of transplantation and immune pathogenesis of autoimmune
diabetes. Specifically his investigations were the first to demonstrate
the critical role of recurrent anti-beta cell autoimmunity as a basis
for the failure of islet transplantation for treatment of Type 1 diabetes
mellitus (T1D). Most recently, his group's efforts have focused on the
role of B lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of T1D and organ transplant
rejection demonstrating the requisite role of B lymphocytes as antigen
presenting cells in the pathogenesis of islet inflammation and immunologic
rejection. Translation of his basic research in islet transplantation
studies have demonstrated the efficacy of B lymphocyte targeting for
the induction of islet allograft tolerance in diabetic non-human primates.
Dr. Naji and his group plan to determine the clinical efficacy of B
lymphocyte directed immunotherapy as part of the cooperative NIH sponsored
islet transplantation consortium.
Institute for Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism
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