Experts
Dr. Sarah Schlesinger
Associate Professor, The Rockefeller University
Schlesinger says it is important for the scientific community to communicate to policymakers. Read More
"Science is a dynamic process," Schlesinger says, that matters in peoples' day-to-day lives. Read More
The environment of discovery is hard, Schlesinger says, but it is welcoming to all. Read More
It involved frogs, tadpoles, growth hormones, and a hard lesson on outgrowing the resources at hand. Read More
Schlesinger recalls her upbringing in a family of physicians, as well as her first experiment in her mother's kitchen. Read More
Schlesinger and her colleagues, in conjunction with the Rockefeller University, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the NIH are working on a vaccine that directly targets dendritic cells. Read More
The Rockefeller University Professor on the hunt for an AIDS cure. Read More
"What became clear was dendritic cells orchestrate immunity, so they are the center of the immune response." Read More
Schlesinger and her colleagues discovered that dendritic cells are a "fertile field for the replication of HIV." Read More
Schlesinger respects those who volunteer as research subjects to help discover an AIDS vaccine. Read More
Happy, successful children and students, and an AIDS vaccine, is what Schlesigner wants. Read More
Seeing how science works is essential to understanding how science works. Read More
Former President of the Rockefeller University Joshua Lederberg was a person of both science and faith, and Schlesinger talks about why she respected him for it. Read More
If Schlesinger could be an artist, she would be, she says. Read More
Schlesinger talks about hearing Christian De Duve speak about the cell at the Rockefeller University while a teenager in the suburbs. Read More
About Dr. Sarah Schlesinger
For over ten years, Dr. Sarah J. Schlesinger has been actively engaged in HIV/AIDS and HIV vaccine research. She is currently conducting clinical trials to test a new vaccine called ADMVA, designed to stimulate immune responses and thereby prevent HIV from ever being contracted. A graduate of Wellesley College and Rush Medical College, Schlesinger has been interested in medical science since she was a teenager. As a high school student attending a lecture at Rockefeller University, she boldly asked scientist Ralph Steinman for a job in his laboratory. Schlesinger worked in Steinman's lab just a few years after he and Zanvil Cohn published their famous discovery of dendritic cells. She then went on to head her own dendritic cell lab at Walter Reed Hospital from 1990 to 2002. With new knowledge about the ability of dendritic cells to orchestrate the body's immune response, Schlesinger and her colleagues are attempting to develop customized immune therapies to target specific infections such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and influenza; certain cancers; and autoimmune diseases.