Daniel Chertow promoted to tenured investigator

Described as a master clinician and high-impact investigator, the physician-scientist is known for his research on Ebola, Zika, and SARS-CoV-2

Dr. Daniel S. Chertow, physician-scientist specializing in critical care medicine and infectious diseases, was recently promoted to tenured investigator.

Working in the NIH Clinical Center's intensive care unit, Chertow cares for critically ill patients with life-threatening conditions and is a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service.

Since 2017, he has led the Emerging Pathogens Section of the hospital's Critical Care Medicine Department while also serving an appointment to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, conducting research in the institute's Laboratory of Immunoregulation and, more recently, its Laboratory of Virology.

Widely published in leading science journals, Chertow has a special interest in emerging infections that pose major public health threats.

In 2014, he traveled to Liberia to treat hundreds of patients infected with the Ebola virus as a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders. He later published an influential summary of clinical management and interventions for Ebola patients in the New England Journal of Medicine.

His subsequent studies of Ebola revealed key discoveries about the disease and virus, including its ability to be transmitted in semen long after infection.

The physician-scientist expanded his research portfolio in 2016 in response to the emerging threat of the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne illness that causes acute illness and, during pregnancy, severe fetal brain abnormalities.

In 2019, the outbreak of the SARS-CoV2 virus added a new research focus, leading him to publish important studies of its viral replication, viral evolution, and ability to pass from pregnant mothers to their unborn children.

Writing in support of Chertow's tenure promotion, Dr. John Gallin, who served as the Clinical Center's chief scientific officer before retiring earlier this year, described Chertow as a "highly productive, high-impact investigator."

"[He has] built a world-class translational research program and team evaluating severe emerging pathogens."

Editor’s note: Article digested from a memo of support to the NIH Central Tenure Committee by Dr. John Gallin.