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Robert Edelman, MD

Academic Title:

Professor Emeritus

Primary Appointment:

Medicine

Location:

HSF 1, Room 480

Phone (Primary):

(410) 706-5328

Fax:

(410) 706-6205

Education and Training

Washington University (Phi Beta Kappa), A.B., 1958

Washington University (Cum Laude and Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society), M.D., 1962

Internship, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Pathology, 1962-1963

Internship, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Medicine, Osler Medical Service, 1963‑1964

Residency, Barnes Hospital, Ward Medical Service, Medicine, 1964‑1965

Fellowship, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Preventative Medicine, 1965‑1967

Special Fellow, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, USPHS, 1967-1968

Biosketch

Since 1988, Dr. Edelman has been a senior consultant on vaccine development at the University of Maryland (UM) Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD). His projects include the biotechnology industry, major pharmaceutical houses, the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the Department of Defense, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Gates Foundation's Malaria Vaccine Initiative and Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative.

Dr. Edelman served as the Associate Director for Clinical Research at the CVD from 1988 until 2011 when he became the Associate Director for Regulatory Affairs and Bioethics. Dr. Edelman’s experience includes leading clinical trials for experimental vaccines, licensed vaccines, and biologicals against a variety of infectious diseases for adult and pediatric volunteers. He was the principal investigator for the University of Maryland Immunosenescence/Immunosupression Research Group.

Dr. Edelman is a recognized expert in clinical trials of vaccine adjuvants. He is interviewed and quoted widely on vaccines against bioterror agents, influenza, dengue, and other emerging infections. He was a member of the WHO Advisory Committee on Dengue and other Flavivirus vaccines for five years and directed the Travelers’ Health Clinic at the UM Medical Center for 20 years. Dr. Edelman served as Chairman of the UM Institutional Review Board (IRB) for nine years and currently serves as IRB Vice-chair. He initiated and directs the Clinical Research Training and Mentoring Program at UMB. Dr. Edelman has co-edited a book, authored 186 peer-reviewed papers, 29 book chapters, 80 abstracts, and has 13 invited editorials and book reviews.

Dr. Edelman served in both the United States (US) Army and the US Public Health Service (USPHS) prior to joining the faculty at UM. His experiences include investigating the pathogenesis and epidemiology of arbovirus infections, the relationship between malnutrition and immunity, and performing Phase 1 clinical trials for several viral vaccines, including vaccines against the bioterror agents, tularemia and Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus. Dr. Edelman served as Deputy Director of the Microbiology and Infectious Disease Program at NIAID and as Chief of the Clinical and Epidemiological Studies Branch. During this time, his clinical research included Lyme disease, maternal vaginal infections as a cause of low infant birth weight, epidemiology of AIDS, and clinical trials of new antifungal drugs.

Research/Clinical Keywords

Clinical trials, vaccines, biologicals, infectious diseases, vector-borne infections, dengue, malaria, Lyme, Chikungunya, bioterror agents, botulinum toxin and smallpox, diarrheal pathogens, hepatitis B, respiratory pathogens, pneumococcus, respiratory syncytial virus, pertussis, influenza, and immunosenescence.

Highlighted Publications

Lyke KE, Laurens MB, Strauss K, Adams M, Billingsley PF, James E, Manoj A, Chakravarty S, Plowe CV, Li ML, Ruben A, Edelman R, Green M, Dube TJ, Sim BK, Hoffman SL. Optimizing intradermal administration of cryopreserved plasmodium falciparum sporozoites in controlled human malaria infection. AJTMH 2015; 93(2):1274-1284.

McArthur MA, Sztein MB, Edelman R. Dengue vaccines: recent developments, ongoing challenges and current candidates. Expert Review of Vaccines 2013; 12(8):933-953.

Laurens MB, Billingsley PF, Richman A, Eappen AG, Adams M, Li T, Chakravarty S, Gunasekera A, Jacob CG, Sim BK, Edelman R, Plowe CV, Hoffman SL, Lyke KE. Successful human infection with P. falciparum using three aseptic Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes: a new model for controlled human malaria infection. 2013; PLoS ONE 8(7): e68969. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068969.

Bentsi-Enchilla AD, Schmitz J, Edelman R, Durbin A, Roehrig JT, Smith PG, Hombach J, Farrar J. Long-term safety assessment of live attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccines: deliberations from a WHO technical consultation. Vaccine 2013; 31(23):2603-9.

Epstein JE, Tewari K, Lyke KE, Sim BK, Billingsley P, Laurens MB, Gunasekera A, Chakravarty S, James ER, Sedegah M, Richman A, Velmurugan S, Reyes S, Li M, Tucker K, Ahumada A, Ruben AJ, Li T, Stafford R, Eappen AG, Tamminga C, Bennett JW, Ockenhouse CF, Murphy JR, Komisar J, Thomas N, Loyevsky M, Birkett A, Plowe CV, Loucq C, Edelman R, Richie TL, Seder RA, Hoffman SL. Live attenuated malaria vaccine designed to protect through hepatic CD8+ T cell immunity. Science 2011; 334(6055):475-480.

Additional Publication Citations

Anderson KB, Gibbons RV, Edelman R, Eckels KH, Putnak RJ, Innis BL, Sun W. Interference and facilitation between dengue serotypes in a tetravalent live dengue virusvaccine candidate. Journal of Infectious Diseases 2011; 204(3):442-450.

Chen WH, Cross AS, Edelman R, Sztein MB, Blackwelder WC, Pasetti MF. Antibody and Th1-type cell-mediated immune responses in elderly and young adults immunized with the standard or a high dose influenza vaccine. Vaccine 2011; 29:2865-2873.

Trent D, Shin J, Hombach J, Minor P, Barrett A, Bleijs D, Denamur F, Durbin A, Eckels K, Edelman R, et al. (Working Group Advisors and peer reviewers). Conference Report: WHO Working Group on technical specifications for manufacture and evaluation of dengue vaccines, Geneva, Switzerland, 11-12 May 2009. Vaccine 2010; 28:8246-8255.

Lyke KE, Laurens M, Adams M, Billingsley P, Richman A, Loyevsky M, Chakravarty S, Plowe CV, Lee Sim BK, Edelman R, Hoffman SL. Plasmodium falciparum malaria challenge by the bite of aseptic Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes: results of a randomized infectivity trial. PLoS ONE 2010; 5(10):1-10.

Hoffman SL, Billingsley PF, James E, Richman A, Loyevsky M, Li T, Chakravarty S, Gunasekera A, Chattopadhyay R, Li M, Stafford R, Ahumada A, Epstein JE, Sedegah M, Reyes S, Richie TL, Lyke KE, Edelman R, Laurens MB, Plowe CV, Lee Sim BK. Development of a metabolically active, non-replicating sporozoite vaccine to rrevent Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Human Vaccines. 2010; 6(1):97-106.

Brady RC, Treanor JJ, Atmar RL, Keitel W, Edelman R, Chen WH, Winokur P, Belshe R, Graham IL, Noah DL, Guo K, Hill H. Safety and immunogenicity of a subvirion inactivated influenza A/H5N1 vaccine with or without aluminum hydroxide among healthy elderly subjects. Vaccine 2009; 27:5091-5095.

Chen WH, Kozlovsky BF, Effros RB, Grubeck-Loebenstein B, Edelman R, Sztein MB. Vaccination in the elderly: an immunological perspective. Trends in Immunology 2009. 30(7):351-9.

Sun W, Cunningham D, Wasserman SS, Perry J, Putnak JR, Eckels KH, Vaughn DW, Thomas SJ, Kanesa-Thasan N, Innis BL, Edelman R. Phase 2 clinical trial of three formulations of tetravalent live-attenuated dengue vaccine in flavivirus-native adults. Human Vaccines 2009; 5(1):33-40.

Edelman R Hombach J. Guidelines for the clinical evaluation of dengue vaccines in endemic areas: summary of a World Health Organization technical consultation. Vaccine 2008; 28(4113-4119).

Research Interests

Dr. Edelman's interests include clinical trials of vaccines or biologicals in healthy, young adult or elderly volunteers against many infectious diseases. These include emerging vector-borne infections (dengue, malaria, Lyme, chikungunya), bioterror agents (Botulinum toxin and smallpox), diarrheal pathogens, hepatitis B, and respiratory pathogens (pneumococcus, respiratory syncytial virus, pertussis and influenza). He has conducted clinical research on immunosenescence, vaccines for the elderly (pneumococcus and influenza), and clinical trials of vaccine adjuvants. Dr. Edelman has clinical expertise in travelers' health, including travel vaccines, and in the regulations of Good Clinical Practice and the bioethics of clinical research.

Clinical Specialty Details

Internal Medicine, Travel Medicine, Public Health Vaccinology

Grants and Contracts

Kirsten E. Lyke, M.D. (PI)
Role: Co-investigator

  • Dr. Edelman provides clinical support services under the guidance of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR)/US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), including recruitment of volunteers, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities to examine safety and immunologic responses to the TDENV-PIV experimental tetravalent dengue vaccine.

W81XWH-15-C-0071
7/01/2011 - 10/19/2016
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
Clinical Trials for Dengue Fever DPIV-025
Role: Co-Investigator (5% effort). Dr. Edelman provides clinical support services under the guidance of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR)/US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), including recruitment of volunteers, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities to examine safety and immunologic responses to the TDENV-PIV experimental tetravalent dengue vaccine.

Kirsten E. Lyke, M.D. (PI)
Role: Co-investigator
W81XWH-JW148430
4/1/2015 - 9/30/2016
Sanaria/DOD
Phase 2 Development of the PfSPZ Vaccine to Protect the Warfighter from Malaria.
Role: Co-Investigator (5% effort)