Robert Garry

Dr. Garry is Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Associate Dean for Biomedical Sciences at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. He is also Director of the Tulane Center of Excellence under the Global Viral Network and a Co-founder of Zalgen Labs. Dr. Garry and his colleagues are developing diagnostics, vaccines, and drugs for emerging viruses.

When human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) emerged, Dr. Garry was part of a team that developed some of the first AIDS diagnostic assays. Later, the 9-11 terrorist attack and Amerithrax incident highlighted the need for advanced diagnostics for biodefense and emerging pathogens. Dr. Garry’s team produced diagnostics for Lassa fever, which is responsible for thousands of deaths each year in West Africa. When Ebola emerged in West Africa, Zalgen produced the first serological test to receive US FDA Emergency Use Authorization. These reagents are used in a rapid diagnostic test deployed in subsequent Ebola outbreaks.

Dr. Garry’s work continues with structural and molecular investigations to deepen understanding of the pathogenesis of viral hemorrhagic fevers. His team established research programs in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and other African nations that provide unique clinical and laboratory resources. They performed the first in-depth clinical study of Ebola virus disease in West Africa. Dr. Garry collected the Ebola samples used for the first real-time genetic analysis of any emerging pathogen. Other work includes the development of human monoclonal antibodies that are able to cure monkeys challenged with Lassa virus even when treatment is delayed for more than a week.

Since the first reports of a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, there has been intense interest in understanding how SARS-CoV-2 emerged. Dr. Garry is co-author of a widely cited analysis indicating that SARS-CoV-2 has a natural origin rather than having been engineered in a laboratory. He has contributed to generating data and analyses that has accumulated since the Proximal Origin study that provide clear insight into how SARS-CoV-2 emerged via the wildlife trade.

Dr. Garry is the Founding Editor-in-Chief of Virology Journal and a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Lassa fever Task Force. He served as the Chair of the US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund review committee. In 2015, Dr. Garry was named as one the 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy) for work on rapid Ebola diagnostics. He is a recipient of the Hall of Fame Award from Tulane University and the Robert C. Gallo Award from the Global Viral Network. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.