Dirk Homann, MD

Trained as a physician and immunologist/virologist in Berlin, Boston, Paris and La Jolla, Dr. Homann has a long-standing interest in autoimmune and infectious disease, in particular the generation, maintenance, modulation, pathogenic potential and protective capacity of specific T cell immunity. Dr. Homann began his work as an independent investigator at the University of Colorado, joined the faculty at Mount Sinai in 2014, and was promoted to full Professor with tenure in 2019. Active areas of preclinical investigation include T cell memory; the role of various accessory pathways (chemokines, CD4+T cell help, SLAM family receptors, adenosine, complement system) in regulation of CD8+T cell responses to acute and chronic viral infections; and the concurrent therapeutic modulation of immune responses and beta cell survival in type 1 diabetes (T1D). The overarching goal of these endeavors is the development, adaptation and optimization of therapeutic strategies that effectively curtail (autoimmunity) or embellish (infectious disease) T cell responses with prophylactic and/or curative intent. Over the past decade, Dr. Homann has expanded his research program to encompass a broader context of pancreatic islet cell biology and histopathology in human T1D, and he has launched multiple collaborative efforts to better leverage complementary expert knowledge, unique technology access and more effective overall implementation of research strategies.