Julie Magarian Blander is a Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Immunology in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM). Prof. Blander studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms of innate and adaptive immune responses to infection and cell death. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh studying tumor immunology under the mentorship of Prof. Olivera Finn. She conducted her postdoctoral training with Prof. Charles Janeway and Prof. Ruslan Medzhitov at Yale University pioneering the study of the impact of Toll-like receptors on macrophage and dendritic cell function. Prof. Blander holds a secondary appointment within the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at WCM and is a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center.
Prof. Blander is committed to training the next generation of Immunologists and holds a Training Faculty position at the Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis (IMP) Ph.D. Program at the WCM/Sloan Kettering Institute Graduate School for Medical Sciences. She is Course Director for the Advanced Topics of Immunology (2017-present), member of the Admission-to-Candidacy Exam Committee (2018-present) and the IMP Curriculum Committee (2017-present). She is Associate co-director of NIH T32 training grant to the Department of Medicine Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (2019-present).
Prof. Blander is actively involved in Weill Cornell and Cornell University academic affairs. She is a member of the Executive Committee for the Cornell Center for Immunology at Cornell University, member of the WCM Promotion and Appointment Review Committee (2018-present), and has served on the WCM Research Awards Committee (2017-2020). In April 2020, Prof. Blander founded the WCM Immunology Task Force on COVID-19 to foster collaboration and fuel WCM research on this new disease.
Prof. Blander is committed to the national advancement of science serving on the Nominations Committee member for the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) (2019-present) and the Program Committee for the AAI (2016-2019). She is committed to advancing research in inflammatory bowel disease serving as a member of the Senior Research Awards Committee for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation (2018-present).
Prof. Blander has received a 2018 Daedalus Award for Innovation from WCM and a 2019 Sanofi Award for Innovation. She was named Searle Scholar in 2007 and a Burroughs Wellcome Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease in 2011. She has received the 2009 G. Jeanette Thorbecke Society of Leukocyte Biology award, an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award, a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar Award, and the J. V. Satterfield Arthritis Investigator Award from the Arthritis Foundation. Prof. Blander is currently funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health NIAID and NIDDK.
Education
- Ph.D. in Immunology, University of Pittsburgh
- B.S. in Health Sciences, American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
View Recent Publications
Grants awarded
- Innate and Adaptive Immune Consequences of Necroptosis awarded by National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases Principal Investigator 2020 - 2022
- Immune Consequences of Apoptotic Intestinal Epithelial Cell Sampling on Innate and Adaptive Immunity awarded by Crohn''s & Colitis Foundation of America, Inc. Key Personnel 2020 - 2022
- Multidisciplinary Research Training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology awarded by National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases Key Personnel 2019 - 2024
- Importing OP9 Cells awarded by National Institutes of Health Principal Investigator 2018 - 2021
- Novel Vita-Vaccine Formula Combines Safety of Dead and Efficacy of Live Vaccines awarded by National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases Principal Investigator 2017 - 2021
- Role of Apoptosis in the Intestinal Epithelium During Homeostasis and Disease awarded by National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases Principal Investigator 2017 - 2021
- Non-Canonical Cross-Presentation in Dendritic Cells Upon TAP Blockade awarded by National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases Principal Investigator 2016 - 2021