Wonder P. Drake, MD

• University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, BS, Microbiology, 1990
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, MD, 1994
• Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, Osler Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine, 1997
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Clinical Postdoctoral Fellowship, Infectious Diseases, 2000

Dr. Drake serves as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and directs the inaugural Sarcoidosis Center of Excellence at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.  As a consequence of her investigation of sarcoidosis pathogenesis for the past 24 years, the Drake lab conducts the full spectrum of research from basic investigations using murine models for interstitial lung disease, to translational research using sarcoidosis peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) to implementing clinical trials based on repurposed therapeutics that target the identified molecular deficiency.

The Drake lab was the first to describe novel mycobacterial sequences in sarcoidosis tissue specimens, as well as to demonstrate that mycobacterial virulence factors were targets of the adaptive immune response.  They  also demonstrated that these immune responses were pathogenic through Programmed Death-1 signaling and drive profibrotic cytokine expression. Most recently, it was reported that gut dysbiosis contributes to ILD severity by augmenting Th17 cell development. Dr. Drake has one of the largest sarcoidosis tissue biorepositories in the USA, with more than 500 specimens of clinically characterized sarcoidosis patients, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and healthy control tissue samples.

Dr. Drake supports her research primarily through NIH funding (R01, U01, K24, etc), as well as private foundations (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). While leading a robust research program, she has mentored 68 trainees (50% women, ~48% URM and 75% remain in academic medicine). Her mentees have obtained independent funding (K01, K24, R01, FSR and BIRCH awards), faculty positions throughout academic medicine, as well as promotion with tenure.

Dr. Drake has been elected into the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), as well as the American Association of Physicians (AAP).  She currently serves on the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Board of Scientific Counsellors, the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, as well as the advisory board for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

She derives great pleasure in helping the next generation of physicians and scientists achieve their professional goals.

interstitial lung disease, sarcoidosis, sarcoidosis pathogenesis

Chioma OS, Mallott E, Shah-Gandhi B, Wiggins Z, Langford M, Lancaster AW, Gelbard A, Wu H, Johnson JE, Lancaster L, Wilfong EM, Crofford LJ, Montgomery CG, Van Kaer L, Bordenstein S, Newcomb DC, Drake WP. Low Gut Microbial Diversity Augments Estrogen-Driven Pulmonary Fibrosis in Female-Predominant Interstitial Lung Disease. Cells. 2023 Feb 28;12(5):766. doi: 10.3390/cells12050766. PMID: 36899902; PMCID: PMC10000459.

Chioma OS, Mallott EK, Chapman A, Van Amburg JC, Wu H, Shah-Gandhi B, Dey N, Kirkland ME, Blanca Piazuelo M, Johnson J, Bernard GR, Bodduluri SR, Davison S, Haribabu B, Bordenstein SR, Drake WP. Gut microbiota modulates lung fibrosis severity following acute lung injury in mice. Commun Biol. 2022 Dec 22;5(1):1401. doi: 10.1038/s42003-022-04357-x. PMID: 36543914; PMCID: PMC9772329.

Kalet A, Libby AM, Jagsi R, Brady K, Chavis-Keeling D, Pillinger MH, Daumit GL, Drake AF, Drake WP, Fraser V, Ford D, Hochman JS, Jones RD, Mangurian C, Meagher EA, McGuinness G, Regensteiner JG, Rubin DC, Yaffe K, Ravenell JE. Mentoring Underrepresented Minority Physician-Scientists to Success. Acad Med. 2022;97(4):497-502.

Volkmann ER, Seigfried J, Lahm T, Ventetuolo C, Mathai SC, Steen V, Herzog E, Shanksky R, Anguera M, Danoff S, Giles JT, Lee Y, Drake W, Maier L, Lachowicz-Scroggins M, Park H, Banerjee K, Fessel J, Reineck L, Vuga L, Crouser E, Feghali-Bostwick C.   NHLBI Workshop Report: The Impact of Sex and Gender on Autoimmune Lung Disease, a Roadmap for Future Clinical and Preclinical Research.  Am J Resp Crit Care Med. 2022;206(7):817-823.

Singha A, Kirkland M, Drake W, Crouser ED. The influence of age and sex in sarcoidosis. Curr Opin Pulm Med. 2022 Jul 1;28(4):307-313.

Bagavant H, Cizio K, Araszkiewicz AM, Papinska JA, Garman L, Li C, Pezant N, Drake WP, Montgomery CG, Deshmukh US. Systemic immune response to vimentin and granuloma formation in a model of pulmonary sarcoidosis. J Transl Autoimmun. 2022;5:100153.

Rahimi RA, Cho JL, Jakubzick CV, Khader SA, Lambrecht BN, Lloyd CM, Molofsky AB, Talbot S, Bonham CA, Drake WP, Sperling AI, Singer BD. Advancing Lung Immunology Research: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2022 Jul;67(1):e1-18. doi: 10.1165/rcmb.2022-0167ST. PMID: 35776495; PMCID: PMC9273224.

See all Dr. Drake's publications on PubMed