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Language
English
Title and Department
Distinguished Professor of Medicine
Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Professional bio
Jack Jacek Hawiger MD, PhD, is a Professor in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine within the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and physician-scientist conducting research in the field of inflammation and vascular biology. His ongoing research is focused on the mechanism of inflammation by highlighting the cell’s nucleus as the command center of the inflammatory response underlying most human diseases caused by allergic, autoimmune, metabolic, microbial, and physical insults.
Dr. Hawiger has pioneered with his colleagues a new approach to control inflammation through intracellular therapy with the Nuclear Transport Checkpoint Inhibitors or with physiologic proteins known as Suppressors of Cytokine Signaling. He and his team developed a new method of non-invasive intracellular delivery of cell-penetrating peptides and proteins for anti-inflammatory therapy. One of these therapeutics is part of an ongoing Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial for Atopic Dermatitis aka eczema (NCT04313400). Prior to these studies, Dr. Hawiger established the molecular mechanism behind the binding of the human coagulation protein, fibrinogen, to staphylococci and human platelets, which led to a new test to detect fibrin degradation products in patients with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation. He introduced fibrinogen-derived peptides as the blockers of human platelet integrins, the target of anti-thrombotic therapy. He is the inventor and co-inventor of 31 patents issued or pending in the US and abroad.
Dr. Hawiger is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Louise B. McGavock Chair in Medicine, and Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and a Health Research Scientist in the VA Hospital in Nashville. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at his Alma Mater, the Copernicus School of Medicine in Cracow, Poland, followed by the Graduate Studies in Medical Microbiology at the National Institute of Hygiene in Warsaw. After his postdoctoral fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt with Drs. David E. Rogers and M. Glenn Koenig, Dr. Hawiger was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt, raising through the ranks to Professor of Pathology and Medicine, and then Professor of Medicine at Boston University. In 1983, he became a Director of the Division of Experimental Medicine at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston, and later, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, where he also received an Honorary Master of Arts degree. In 1989, he returned to Vanderbilt as the Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, recruiting 18 new faculty members and reorganizing the teaching of medical and graduate students, which led in 2010 to ranking the Department as the 6th among 78 graduate programs in Microbiology and Immunology by the US Research Council.
Dr. Hawiger is the recipient of the Edward Kowalski Award for Outstanding Achievements in Thrombosis and Hemostasis, the Investigator Recognition Award for Contributions to Hemostasis in honor of Birger Blomback, the Biochemistry Prize from the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation, New York, NY, and the Special Recognition Award from the Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, American Heart Association. He has received an honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from his Alma Mater, was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Microbiology, and Infectious Diseases Society of America. He is also a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, the American Society of Hematology, and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Hawiger serves on the Immunology and Dermatology-A Subcommittee of the Scientific Merit Review Board, US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Hawiger has pioneered with his colleagues a new approach to control inflammation through intracellular therapy with the Nuclear Transport Checkpoint Inhibitors or with physiologic proteins known as Suppressors of Cytokine Signaling. He and his team developed a new method of non-invasive intracellular delivery of cell-penetrating peptides and proteins for anti-inflammatory therapy. One of these therapeutics is part of an ongoing Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial for Atopic Dermatitis aka eczema (NCT04313400). Prior to these studies, Dr. Hawiger established the molecular mechanism behind the binding of the human coagulation protein, fibrinogen, to staphylococci and human platelets, which led to a new test to detect fibrin degradation products in patients with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation. He introduced fibrinogen-derived peptides as the blockers of human platelet integrins, the target of anti-thrombotic therapy. He is the inventor and co-inventor of 31 patents issued or pending in the US and abroad.
Dr. Hawiger is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Louise B. McGavock Chair in Medicine, and Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and a Health Research Scientist in the VA Hospital in Nashville. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at his Alma Mater, the Copernicus School of Medicine in Cracow, Poland, followed by the Graduate Studies in Medical Microbiology at the National Institute of Hygiene in Warsaw. After his postdoctoral fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt with Drs. David E. Rogers and M. Glenn Koenig, Dr. Hawiger was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt, raising through the ranks to Professor of Pathology and Medicine, and then Professor of Medicine at Boston University. In 1983, he became a Director of the Division of Experimental Medicine at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston, and later, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, where he also received an Honorary Master of Arts degree. In 1989, he returned to Vanderbilt as the Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, recruiting 18 new faculty members and reorganizing the teaching of medical and graduate students, which led in 2010 to ranking the Department as the 6th among 78 graduate programs in Microbiology and Immunology by the US Research Council.
Dr. Hawiger is the recipient of the Edward Kowalski Award for Outstanding Achievements in Thrombosis and Hemostasis, the Investigator Recognition Award for Contributions to Hemostasis in honor of Birger Blomback, the Biochemistry Prize from the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation, New York, NY, and the Special Recognition Award from the Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, American Heart Association. He has received an honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from his Alma Mater, was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Microbiology, and Infectious Diseases Society of America. He is also a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, the American Society of Hematology, and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Hawiger serves on the Immunology and Dermatology-A Subcommittee of the Scientific Merit Review Board, US Department of Veterans Affairs.
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