Dr. Julie McElrath is a Member of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Washington; Co-Director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute and directs the Immunology and Vaccine Development Program. Dr. McElrath has clinical attending responsibilities on the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Infectious Diseases consult service for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and University of Washington Hospital. She is also the Principal Investigator and Director of the HVTN Laboratory Program and Seattle Vaccine Trials Unit.

Her current research pursues a vaccine that will protect against HIV-1 infection and deeper understanding of the components of immunity that contribute to control of HIV-1 disease.  Dr. McElrath has built and maintains a successful international HIV vaccine laboratory program, conducted translational immunological research in humans in a multicenter setting.  She has contributed fundamental understanding of how HIV-1 enters the mucosa to establish infection, and mechanisms of potential reduced susceptibility to infection in seronegative persons repeatedly exposed to HIV-1.  In conjunction with a highly productive research program, she has assumed a leadership role or been a major contributor in a number of integrated programs at the national and international level to advance a coordinated effort to tackle the HIV epidemic through prevention efforts.  She has mentored numerous junior faculty, young investigators, and graduate students in their career paths.

Dr. McElrath received her bachelor’s degree from Furman University, Greenville, SC; her Ph.D. and M.D. degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston; her clinical training in infectious diseases at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York; and her post-doctoral training in molecular immunology at the Rockefeller University in New York.