Jay Kolls, MD

Dr. Jay K. Kolls is Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, the John W Deming Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine and Director, Center for Translational Research in Infection and Inflammation Tulane School of Medicine. Prior to his recruitment to Tulane he was Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation Institute for Pediatric Research at the Children Hospital of Pittsburgh/UPMC.   He earned his medical degree at the University of Maryland and completed his residency training in Internal Medicine/Pediatrics at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, LA.  After that he completed Fellowships in Adult and Pediatric Pulmonology at LSU and Tulane Health Sciences Center respectively.  He performed his research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Bruce Beutler at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX. Dr Kolls was recruited in July 2003 to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he was Division Chief of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine and named the inaugural Niels K Jerne Professor Pediatrics and Immunology in 2007. Dr. Kolls has been member of the American Thoracic Society since 1989.  He is also a member of the American Association of Immunology, American Society of Microbiology, American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians.  Dr. Kolls has authored or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles.  The major goal of Dr. Kolls’ research is to investigate mechanisms of mucosal host defenses in the lung in normal and immunocompromised hosts using genetic models. Presently, his lab is investigating how IL-23 and IL-17 and IL-22 regulate host defense against extracellular pathogens and epigenetic regulation of macrophage function. Additionally, he researches host susceptibility to opportunistic infection such as Pneumocystis and is developing novel therapies against this pathogen.   Dr. Kolls has been co-Chair and Chair of the Gordon Conference on the biology of Acute Respiratory Infection and has co-organized a Keystone symposia on Th17 cells and Asthma and COPD.