Robert Edelman, MD

Washington University (Phi Beta Kappa), A.B., 1958

Washington University (Cum Laude and Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society), M.D., 1962

Internship, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Pathology, 1962-1963

Internship, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Medicine, Osler Medical Service, 1963‑1964

Residency, Barnes Hospital, Ward Medical Service, Medicine, 1964‑1965

Fellowship, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Preventative Medicine, 1965‑1967

Special Fellow, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, USPHS, 1967-1968

Since 1988, Dr. Edelman has been a senior consultant on vaccine development at the University of Maryland (UM) Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD). His projects include the biotechnology industry, major pharmaceutical houses, the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Department of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Gates Foundation's Malaria Vaccine Initiative and Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative.

Dr. Edelman served as the Associate Director for Clinical Research at the CVD from 1988 until 2011 when he became the Associate Director for Regulatory Affairs and Bioethics. Dr. Edelman’s experience includes leading clinical trials for experimental vaccines, licensed vaccines, and biologicals against a variety of infectious diseases for adult and pediatric volunteers. He was the principal investigator for the University of Maryland Immunosenescence/Immunosupression Research Group.

Dr. Edelman is a recognized expert in clinical trials of vaccine adjuvants. He is interviewed and quoted widely on vaccines against bioterror agents, influenza, dengue, and other emerging infections. He was a member of the WHO Advisory Committee on Dengue and other Flavivirus vaccines for five years and directed the Travelers’ Health Clinic at the UM Medical Center for 20 years. Dr. Edelman served as Chairman of the UM Institutional Review Board (IRB) for nine years and currently serves as IRB Vice-chair. He initiated and directs the Clinical Research Training and Mentoring Program at UMB. Dr. Edelman has co-edited a book, authored 186 peer-reviewed papers, 29 book chapters, 80 abstracts, and has 13 invited editorials and book reviews.

Dr. Edelman served in both the United States (US) Army and the US Public Health Service (USPHS) prior to joining the faculty at UM. His experiences include investigating the pathogenesis and epidemiology of arbovirus infections, the relationship between malnutrition and immunity, and performing Phase 1 clinical trials for several viral vaccines, including vaccines against the bioterror agents, tularemia and Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus. Dr. Edelman served as Deputy Director of the Microbiology and Infectious Disease Program at NIAID and as Chief of the Clinical and Epidemiological Studies Branch. During this time, his clinical research included Lyme disease, maternal vaginal infections as a cause of low infant birth weight, epidemiology of AIDS, and clinical trials of new antifungal drugs.

Clinical trials, vaccines, biologicals, infectious diseases, vector-borne infections, dengue, malaria, Lyme, Chikungunya, bioterror agents, botulinum toxin and smallpox, diarrheal pathogens, hepatitis B, respiratory pathogens, pneumococcus, respiratory syncytial virus, pertussis, influenza, and immunosenescence.

Lyke KE, Laurens MB, Strauss K, Adams M, Billingsley PF, James E, Manoj A, Chakravarty S, Plowe CV, Li ML, Ruben A, Edelman R, Green M, Dube TJ, Sim BK, Hoffman SL. Optimizing intradermal administration of cryopreserved plasmodium falciparum sporozoites in controlled human malaria infection. AJTMH 2015; 93(2):1274-1284.

McArthur MA, Sztein MB, Edelman R. Dengue vaccines: recent developments, ongoing challenges and current candidates. Expert Review of Vaccines 2013; 12(8):933-953.

Laurens MB, Billingsley PF, Richman A, Eappen AG, Adams M, Li T, Chakravarty S, Gunasekera A, Jacob CG, Sim BK, Edelman R, Plowe CV, Hoffman SL, Lyke KE. Successful human infection with P. falciparum using three aseptic Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes: a new model for controlled human malaria infection. 2013; PLoS ONE 8(7): e68969. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068969.

Bentsi-Enchilla AD, Schmitz J, Edelman R, Durbin A, Roehrig JT, Smith PG, Hombach J, Farrar J. Long-term safety assessment of live attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccines: deliberations from a WHO technical consultation. Vaccine 2013; 31(23):2603-9.

Epstein JE, Tewari K, Lyke KE, Sim BK, Billingsley P, Laurens MB, Gunasekera A, Chakravarty S, James ER, Sedegah M, Richman A, Velmurugan S, Reyes S, Li M, Tucker K, Ahumada A, Ruben AJ, Li T, Stafford R, Eappen AG, Tamminga C, Bennett JW, Ockenhouse CF, Murphy JR, Komisar J, Thomas N, Loyevsky M, Birkett A, Plowe CV, Loucq C, Edelman R, Richie TL, Seder RA, Hoffman SL. Live attenuated malaria vaccine designed to protect through hepatic CD8+ T cell immunity. Science 2011; 334(6055):475-480.