Conrad W. Liles, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., FACP, FIDSA, FRCPC

Dr. W. Conrad Liles (Professor of Medicine) holds the position of Associate Chair of Medicine. Dr. Liles returned to the University of Washington in 2012 from the University of Toronto, where he was Vice-Chair and Professor of Medicine, Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, and the Canada Research Chair in Infectious Diseases and Inflammation. Dr. Liles also serves as Co-Director of the Molecular Medicine Training Program at the University of Washington.

The overall mission of his research program is to investigate clinical problems at the bench, in order to gain novel insights into disease pathogenesis and to develop novel therapeutic approaches to important clinical problems. His laboratory focuses on the role of dysregulated host responses in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases of public health importance. A guiding principle of his research program is rapid translation of experimental insights and advances gained in the laboratory to the clinical bedside. Areas of current research include:

1. The molecular immunopathogensis of malaria, one of the major causes of infection-related morbidity and mortality worldwide;
2. Sepsis, a major cause of tissue injury and organ dysfunction in patients hospitalized in intensive care units;
3. Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS);
4. Severe influenza;
5. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS); and
6. The role and regulation of endothelial activation/dysfunction in life-threatening infectious diseases.  The role of innate immunity and inflammation in the development of effective acquired/adaptive immunity to infectious diseases is an emerging interest in his laboratory, as is prognostic host-derived biomarker discovery.  His research utilizes a variety of molecular and cellular biology technologies (e.g., transfection/transduction strategies, real-time PCR, siRNA technology, Western blot, ELISA, etc.), expression microarray technology, mesenchymal stem cell and adoptive cell transfer technology, cell culture, work with patient specimens, and clinically relevant mouse models of malaria, sepsis, shock and acute lung injury. He collaborates extensively with University of Washington Investigators in the Center for Lung Biology, Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, and Puget Sound Blood Center.