Donald Ganem

Donald "Don" Emil Ganem (born September 23, 1950) is an American physician, virologist, professor emeritus of microbiology and medicine, and former global head of infectious disease research at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR).

Biography
Ganem graduated in 1968 from Phillips Academy Andover and in 1972 from Harvard College. After two years of medical school, he took an 18-month leave of absence to work on SV40 DNA replication with George Fareed. In 1977 Ganem graduated with an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. At Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women's Hospital) he was a resident and chief resident in internal medicine. At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) he did subspecialty training in infectious diseases, working in Harold Varmus's laboratory. At UCSF he became a faculty member in 1982 and eventually Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Medicine. In 1991 he also became an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

"After a 15-year focus on the biology of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) family, the modern-day microbe hunter Don Ganem turned his attention to KSHV, the herpes virus that is the cause of the AIDS-related neoplasm Kaposi sarcoma (KS)."

At UCSF Ganem was part of a team, including David Wang and Joseph L. DeRisi, that developed a highly parallel viral screening system using DNA microarrays to detect and genotype viral pathogens. Ganem and co-workers also elucidated the functional significance of SV40-encoded microRNAs in viral infection. With Joseph L. DeRisi and six other researchers, Ganem found four novel viruses that infect honey bees.

"In 2011, he left UCSF to become global head of Infectious Disease Research at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, where he led teams developing novel antivirals for HBV, human herpesviruses, human polyomaviruses, and influenza and other respiratory viruses as well as antibiotics for multiresistant gram-negative bacteria. Ganem left Novartis in 2018 and is now professor emeritus of microbiology and medicine at UCSF and a senior advisor to the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub."

Ganem practices internal medicine in San Francisco.

On May 20, 1985, in Alameda County he married Peggy S. Weintrub, a pediatrician. They have two daughters, Alison Marjorie (born 1989) and Natalie Katherine (born 1990). Both daughters are lawyers.

Awards and honors

 * 2003 — Member of the Institute of Medicine (now renamed the National Academy of Medicine)
 * 2004 — Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * 2006–2007 — President of the American Society for Virology
 * 2010 — Member of the National Academy of Sciences
 * 2016 — UCSF Medal