Ashraf S. Ibrahim, PhD

Professor of Medicine
The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Disclosure: Astellas Pharma (Research Grant or Support)

Dr. Ibrahim is a Professor at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a Senior Investigator at The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He received his Ph.D degree in Microbial Physiology in 1991 from Loughborough University of Technology, UK.
Dr. Ibrahim completed his Postdoctoral training in Infectious Diseases at Lundquist Institute. His current research focuses on molecular pathogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, immunotherapies, and models of infections to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostic strategies to combat Infectious Diseases. His laboratory represents a leading group in mucormycosis and is constantly invited to National and International Conferences to lecture on mucormycosis. Currently, his laboratory is leading the effort in developing immunotherapy and rapid diagnostics for this lethal fungal infection through STTR/SBIR funding mechanisms to Vitalex Biosciences, a company that he founded in 2013.
Dr. Ibrahim is also a leading figure in developing a vaccine that targets healthcare-related infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter and Candida. Dr. Ibrahim was recently awarded a $ 5.5 million R01 grant to manufacture a dual antigen vaccine.
The Ibrahim’s laboratory was, and continues to be, instrumental in the preclinical development programs of several antibiotics/small molecules advanced by industry (e.g. Merck, Astellas Pharma, Gilead, Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Cidara and A6 Pharmaceuticals, etc). These efforts range from development of antifungal agents, to targeting multidrug-resistant Gram-negative sepsis.
Dr. Ibrahim currently holds several NIH and industry-sponsored projects and has received over $24 million in funding for his research. He coauthored more than 165 peer-reviewed research papers, review articles and book chapters. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Microbiology. For the last 10 years, Dr. Ibrahim served on numerous NIH study sections as an Ad Hoc reviewer, and currently is a permanent member of the Drug Discovery and Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Resistance (DDR) study section.