Rafeul Alam Named Director of Allergy and Immunology Division
Rafeul Alam, MD, PhD, has been named Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at National Jewish Medical and Research Center. Dr. Alam also holds the Veda H. and Chauncey H. Ritter Chair in Immunology.
Dr. Alam comes to National Jewish from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, where he held a variety of clinical, research and leadership positions over a 15-year period. For the last seven years there, he served as Director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology. Born in Bogra, Bangladesh, he received a premedical degree from Dacca College in Bangladesh. He earned his MD and PhD, both magna cum laude, from Lodz Medical Academy in Poland. After fellowships in Poland, London and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in West Virgina, Dr. Alam settled in Texas.
"I'm very excited about this opportunity at National Jewish," Dr. Alam said. "Its reputation is obviously strong, and I look forward to leading this important division as it expands its patient care, research and education activities.
Dr. Alam replaces Lanny Rosenwasser, MD, who led the division for many years. Dr. Rosenwasser remains in the division, and is now devoting substantial time and energy to the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology (AAAAI). He will assume the presidency of AAAAI at its next annual meeting, which will be held in Denver in March 2003.
Dr. Alam will divide his time between clinical and research activities. His research interests include signal transduction pathways of IL-5 and chemokines in eosinophils, the involvement of CC chemokines in allergic inflammation, the mechanism of activation of Src-type tyrosine kinases and signal transduction in T cells.
"Rafeul Alam is a great physician, scientist and administrator who will bring new ideas and leadership directions to National Jewish," said James Crapo, MD, Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, who led the recruitment effort. "We are very pleased to welcome him to the faculty."
Dr. Alam and his wife, Anna, have a son, Ryan and a daughter, Robyn.
