Francis V. Chisari

Francis "Frank" Vincent Chisari (born 5 April 1942 in New York City) is a physician, experimental pathologist, and viral immunologist, known for his research on virus-host interactions and disease pathogenesis during hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections.

Education and career
Chisari graduated in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in biology magna cum laude from Fordham University and in 1968 with an M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College. He was an intern in Internal Medicine at New York Hospital in 1968-1969, a fellow in anatomic pathology at the Mayo Clinic in 1069-1970, a staff associate in immunopathology at the NIH's Laboratory of Pathology in 1970-1972. In 1973 he completed his residency in internal medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. At Scripps Research he was a postdoctoral research fellow from 1973-1975, then an assistant professor from 1975 to 1981, an associate professor from 1981 to 1988 during which he spent a sabbatical from 1983 to 1984 as a Fogarty Scholar in molecular biology at the Institut Pasteur and a full professor from 1988 until retiring as professor emeritus in 2015. During his tenure at Scripps he served as Associate Director and then Director of the NIH-funded General Clinical Research Center from 1984 to 2004 while also heading the Division of Experimental Pathology from 1988 to 2008 and the Laboratory of Experimental Virology from 2008 to 2015 funded entirely by NIH grants. He is now a consultant for a variety of nascent biotechnology companies and a scientific advisor for Vir Biotechnology.

Chisari studies the immunological basis for viral clearance and disease pathogenesis during persistent viral infections, especially HBV and HCV, the signaling pathways and effector molecules that mediate these antiviral effects, and the viral evasion strategies that subvert them. He is best known for demonstrating that chronic immune-mediated injury and inflammation can cause liver cancer and for discovering that antiviral T cells can purge viruses from infected cells noncytolytically by secreting antiviral cytokines that inhibit viral replication, thus controlling the infection while preserving the vital functions of the infected tissue.

Chisari's laboratory developed cell-based models and animal models of HBV and HCV infection and performed foundational studies elucidating the T-cell response to these viruses in infected humans, subhuman primates, and transgenic mice. His group discovered that cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) secrete antiviral cytokiness that inhibit viral replication in the liver cell without killing the cell, thus controlling the infection while preserving the life-saving function of the liver, and establishing new paradigm in viral pathogenesis and immunobiology. His research informed novel immunotherapeutic approaches for the understanding, prevention and treatment of chronic HBV infection.

Chisari's laboratory also demonstrated that HCV RNA can be transmitted via exosomes from infected hepatocytes to uninfected hepatocytes while masked from detection by anti-HCV antibodies, identifying a unique mechanism for viral spread by escaping recognition by the immune response while in transit. They also demonstrated that exosomes released by infected cells can deliver HCV RNA to plasmacytoid dendritic cells, thereby triggering an innate host response that was subsequently shown to prevent viral spread to susceptible hepatocytes, establishing a new paradigm in hepatitis C virus biology.

Chisari has served on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals. He holds many patents on the use of viral peptide epitopes for the treatment or prevention of hepatitis-B or hepatitis-C virus infections. In recognitions of his contributions, Chisari has received numerous honors and awards (listed below).

Awards and honors

 * 1992  Elected Member, Association of American Physicians
 * 1996  Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
 * 1997  Jung Prize for Medicine, Jung Foundation for Science and Research
 * 1999  Rous-Whipple Award, American Society for Investigative Pathology
 * 1999  Distinguished Achievement Award, American Association for Study of Liver Disease
 * 2002  Elected Fellow, the American Academy of Microbiology
 * 2002  Elected Member, the National Academy of Sciences
 * 2003  Elected Member, the National Academy of Medicine
 * 2004  Distinguished Alumnus Award, Weill Cornell University Medical College
 * 2007  Distinguished Scientist Award, Hepatitis B Foundation
 * 2015   William H. Prusoff Lifetime Achievement Award
 * 2017  First Distinguished Award in Hepatitis B Virus Research

Selected publications

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