Doctoral Training and Teaching Faculty

Anne A. Gershon, M.D.

Professor of Pediatrics,
Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases
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Degrees

B.A. 1960, Smith College
M.D. 1964, Cornell University  

Research Interests

Varicella-zoster virus infections and vaccines, Vaccines, HIV

Dr. Anne Gershon is Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease. Her research has included epidemiology, diagnosis, immunology, latency, prevention, and treatment of varicella and zoster virus infections. Her studies with varicella vaccine, which examined the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in leukemic children and adults, were crucial to its licensure; the vaccine is now recommended for all healthy children in the United States. She is continuing to study the safety and efficacy of varicella vaccine and the zoster vaccine in the "vaccine era". She has also focused on HIV infection in children, particularly with regard to opportunistic infections. She has research funding from the NIH to study the growth and pathogenesis of VZV in cell culture, and latency of VZV in humans and animal models. Dr. Gershon has served on the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the American Academy of Pediatrics ("Red Book" Committee) and the Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the CDC. She was a member of the CDC's Working Group for varicella vaccine and played a major role in recommending a second routine dose of the vaccine for all children. She is a member of the Councils of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society. She is currently President of IDSA. She is the author of over 250 publications and has edited 8 books. She is a member of a March of Dimes Research Committee Study Section.

Recent Publications - Pubmed

Gershon AA, Chen J, and Gershon MD. A model of lytic, latent, and reactivating varicella-zoster virus infections in isolated enteric neurons. J Infect Dis 2008; 197 Suppl 2:S61-5.

Gershon, AA. Varicella-zoster virus infections. Pediatr Rev 2008; 29(1): 5-10.

Levin MJ, Gershon AA, Weinberg A, Song LY, Fentin T, Nowak B. Administration of live varicella vaccine to HIV-infected children with current or past significant depression of CD4(+) T cells. J Infect Dis 2006;194(2):247-55.

Arvin A, Gershon A. Control of varicella: why is a two-dose schedule necessary? Pediatr Infect Dis J 2006;25(6):475-6.