Chair's Spotlight: Neal Silverman, PhD
Date Posted: November 30, 2022
In this month’s Chair’s Spotlight, we highlight the work of Neal Silverman, PhD, research director and professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, faculty in the Program in Innate Immunity, and director of the First Year Basic Biomedical Sciences Umbrella Pathway in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Dr. Silverman’s research primarily focuses on the mechanisms by which the innate immune response recognizes and responds to microbial challenges, and how microbial pathogens manipulate these responses. Using the Drosophila model, his lab investigates how bacteria, viruses, and parasites are recognized by innate immune receptors, the molecular and biochemical mechanisms used by both the host and microbe to respond to infection, and the role of peptidoglycan sensing in inflammatory responses and diseases. He has published nearly eighty manuscripts including in high-impact journals such as PLoS Pathogens, Immunity, Nature Immunology, and Cell, and has had continuous research funding since 2001.
In addition to his research, Dr. Silverman demonstrates great dedication to the educational and diversity, equity, and inclusion missions of the DoM and UMass Chan. He has been an instructor and course director for several courses in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and has served as a three-time chair and long-time member of the Graduate School Assembly. In 2022, he became the inaugural director of the First Year Basic Biomedical Sciences Umbrella Pathway where he serves as course co-director for the Graduate School’s Scientific Inquiry in Biomedical Research and coordinates other first-year umbrella activities. He has also been the Program Director for an NIH T32 training grant focused on training graduate students in innate immunity since 2011. He has been the recipient of five teaching awards, including a three-time recipient of the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Faculty Contribution to Graduate Education. In addition to his teaching activities in the Graduate School, he has mentored over twenty graduate students and postdoctoral candidates in his lab.
Dr. Silverman’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion has been demonstrated in his long-standing participation in committees and initiatives for both students and faculty. He has been on the Diversity Committee and PREP Admission for the Graduate School since 2009, recently served as the chair of the DoM Diversity Research Environment Task Force, has been a faculty advisor for the Diversity Interest Group, and was also involved in the recent Cluster Hire Initiative.
Dr. Silverman earned his PhD in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Biology at Harvard University. He joined the faculty at UMass Chan in 2001 and is currently a tenured professor in the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology and Physiological Systems.
We are most appreciative of Dr. Silverman’s vast contributions and commitment to our research, education, and diversity missions of the Department of Medicine.