Immunology is at the threshold of healthcare transformation.

Major clinical advances over the last 10 years have enriched basic understanding of the immune system to the point of translation, and there is the promise of great success with antibody therapies and other forms of immunotherapy. The value of close interactions among researchers studying cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and transplant rejection is now readily apparent.

Executive Leadership

Director of the Immunology Research Theme Dr. Gay Crooks

Gay M. Crooks, MD

Director, Immunity, Inflammation, Infection, & Transplantation (I3T) Theme

Dr. Crooks holds the Rebecca Smith Chair and is a Professor in the Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Pediatrics. She received her medical degree from the University of Western Australia, and after Pediatrics training at Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth, Western Australia, she became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP). 

Her clinical expertise in human hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation and her research program in HSC, pluripotent stem cells (PSC), and T cell development enable her work to reach into the fields of developmental immunology, regenerative medicine, transplantation, and cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Crooks holds leadership positions at UCLA, including director of the JCCC Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program area and co-chair of the Basic and Translational COVID-19 Research Task Force.

Leadership Council

Manish Butte, MD, PhD

Manish Butte, MD, PhD 
Associate Professor, Pediatric Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology
Member, California NanoSystems Institute
Faculty, Immunity, Microbes & Molecular Pathogenesis GPB Home Area

Elaine F. Reed, PhD

Elaine F. Reed, PhD 
Director, Immunogenetics Center
Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Faculty, Cellular and Molecular Pathology PhD Program

Michael R. Yeaman, PhD

Michael R Yeaman, PhD
Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine
Chief of the Division Molecular Medicine
Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.