David Bernstein Appointed Director of Infectious Diseases
CINCINNATI -- David Bernstein, MD, MA, has been appointed director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. He had been interim director of the division since October 2000. Dr. Bernstein also has been named director of The Gamble Program for Clinical Studies within the division. Gilbert Schiff, MD, long-time director of The Gamble Program, retired January 1.
Dr. Bernstein came to Cincinnati in 1983 as a researcher for The Gamble Institute of Medical Research, where his work focused on vaccines, and as an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's. When The Gamble Program moved to Cincinnati Children's in 1995, he became associate director of Infectious Diseases, with major responsibility for developing the division's clinical research program.
Dr. Bernstein has been principal investigator for more than 30 vaccine studies and has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of virology, vaccinology and immunology. He is co-principal investigator of one of only five NIH-funded Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units in the United States.
Dr. Bernstein has made significant contributions to the development of rotavirus vaccines, cold-adapted influenza vaccines, acellular pertussis vaccines, herpes simplex virus vaccines and combination vaccines.
The rotavirus vaccine he developed with Richard Ward, PhD, is licensed to SmithKline Beecham and is undergoing phase II and III evaluations around the world. He was co-principal investigator for the international study of Glaxo SmithKline genital herpes vaccine. The study, which Dr. Bernstein presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies' meeting in 2001, was the first to show that a vaccine could prevent genital herpes, at least in women.
Dr. Bernstein receives NIH funding to study ways to improve DNA vaccines for genital herpes and has received NIH funding for more than 10 years to evaluate potential new antivirals for herpes infections.
Dr. Bernstein earned an MD at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1977. He completed a pediatric internship at Los Angeles Medical Center and a residency at New England Medical Center. He completed a three-year fellowship in infectious diseases at UCLA.
Contact Information
Jim Feuer (
jfeuer@cchmc.org), 513-636-4420
