Barney Graham, MD

Barney S. Graham, MD, PhD 

Professor

Microbiology, Biochemistry, Immunology

Medicine
Location: NCPC 246
Phone: 470 670-6756
E-mail: bgraham@msm.edu

Education

POSTGRADUATE:
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Clinical Fellowship: Infectious Diseases
Chief Residencies: Nashville General Hospital & Vanderbilt University Hospital. 

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Residency: Resident, Internal Medicine

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Internship: Internal Medicine

GRADUATE:
Vanderbilt University
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

University of Kansas, School of Medicine
Degree: Doctor of Medicine

UNDERGRADUATE:
Rice University
Degree: Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa

Research Interests

Virology, Immunology, Vaccine Development, Pandemic Preparedness

Clinical Interests

Vaccine Clinical Trials

Specialties

Infectious Diseases

Board Certification

  • Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, 1983, #94606
  • American Board of Infectious Diseases,1986, #94606

Publications

Original Research

  • McLellan, J. S., Chen, M., Leung, S., Graepel, K. W., Du, X., Yang, Y., Zhou, T., Baxa, U., Yasuda, E., Beaumont, T., Kumar, A., Modjarrad, K., Zheng, Z., Zhao, M., Xia, N., Kwong, P. D., & Graham, B. S. (2013). Structure of RSV fusion glycoprotein trimer bound to a prefusion-specific neutralizing antibody. Science (New York, N.Y.), 340(6136), 1113–1117. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1234914


  • McLellan, J. S., Chen, M., Joyce, M. G., Sastry, M., Stewart-Jones, G. B., Yang, Y., Zhang, B., Chen, L., Srivatsan, S., Zheng, A., Zhou, T., Graepel, K. W., Kumar, A., Moin, S., Boyington, J. C., Chuang, G. Y., Soto, C., Baxa, U., Bakker, A. Q., Spits, H., …, Graham, B. S., & Kwong, P. D. (2013). Structure-based design of a fusion glycoprotein vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus. Science (New York, N.Y.), 342(6158), 592–598. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1243283
  • Graham, B. S., & Sullivan, N. J. (2018). Emerging viral diseases from a vaccinology perspective: preparing for the next pandemic. Nature immunology, 19(1), 20–28. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-017-0007-9
  • Wrapp, D., Wang, N., Corbett, K. S., Goldsmith, J. A., Hsieh, C. L., Abiona, O., Graham, B. S., & McLellan, J. S. (2020). Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation. Science (New York, N.Y.), 367(6483), 1260–1263. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb2507
  • Corbett, K. S., Edwards, D. K., Leist, S. R., Abiona, O. M., Boyoglu-Barnum, S., Gillespie, R. A., Himansu, S., Schäfer, A., Ziwawo, C. T., DiPiazza, A. T., Dinnon, K. H., Elbashir, S. M., Shaw, C. A., Woods, A., Fritch, E. J., Martinez, D. R., Bock, K. W., Minai, M., Nagata, B. M., Hutchinson, G. B., … Graham, B. S. (2020). SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine design enabled by prototype pathogen preparedness. Nature, 586(7830), 567–571. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2622-0


  • Boyoglu-Barnum S, Ellis D, Gillespie RA, Hutchinson GB, Park YJ, Moin SM, Acton OJ, Ravichandran R, Murphy M, Pettie D, Matheson N, Carter L, Creanga A, Watson MJ, Kephart S, Ataca S, Vaile JR, Ueda G, Crank MC, Stewart L, Lee KK, Guttman M, Baker D, Mascola JR, Veesler D, Graham BS, King NP, Kanekiyo M. Quadrivalent influenza nanoparticle vaccines induce broad protection. Nature 2021 Mar 24; doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03365-x.
  • Corbett KS, Edwards DK, Leist SR, Abiona OM, Boyoglu-Barnum S, Gillespie RA, Himansu S, Schäfer A, Ziwawo CT, DiPiazza AT, Dinnon KH, Elbashir SM, Shaw CA, Woods A, Fritch EJ, Martinez DR, Bock KW, Minai M, Nagata BM, Hutchinson GB, Wu K, Henry C, Bahi K, Garcia-Dominguez D, Ma L, Renzi I, Kong WP, Schmidt SD, Wang L, Zhang Y, Phung E, Chang LA, Loomis RJ, Altaras NE, Narayanan E, Metkar M, Presnyak V, Liu C, Louder MK, Shi W, Leung K, Yang ES, West A, Gully KL, Stevens LJ, Wang N, Wrapp D, Doria-Rose NA, Stewart-Jones G, Bennett H, Alvarado GS, Nason MC, Ruckwardt TJ, McLellan JS, Denison MR, Chappell JD, Moore IN, Morabito KM, Mascola JR, Baric RS, Carfi A, Graham BS. SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine design enabled by prototype pathogen preparedness. Nature 2020 Aug 5; doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2622-0.
  • Corbett KS, Flynn B, Foulds KE, Francica JR, Boyoglu-Barnum S, Werner AP, Flach B, O'Connell S, Bock KW, Minai M, Nagata BM, Andersen H, Martinez DR, Noe AT, Douek N, Donaldson MM, Nji NN, Alvarado GS, Edwards DK, Flebbe DR, Lamb E, Doria-Rose NA, Lin BC, Louder MK, O'Dell S, Schmidt SD, Phung E, Chang LA, Yap C, Todd JM, Pessaint L, Van Ry A, Browne S, Greenhouse J, Putman-Taylor T, Strasbaugh A, Campbell TA, Cook A, Dodson A, Steingrebe K, Shi W, Zhang Y, Abiona OM, Wang L, Pegu A, Yang ES, Leung K, Zhou T, Teng IT, Widge A, Gordon I, Novik L, Gillespie RA, Loomis RJ, Moliva JI, Stewart-Jones G, Himansu S, Kong WP, Nason MC, Morabito KM, Ruckwardt TJ, Ledgerwood JE, Gaudinski MR, Kwong PD, Mascola JR, Carfi A, Lewis MG, Baric RS, McDermott A, Moore IN, Sullivan NJ, Roederer M, Seder RA, Graham BS. Evaluation of the mRNA-1273 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in nonhuman primates. New England Journal Medicine 2020 Jul 28; doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2024671.
  • Jackson LA, Anderson EJ, Rouphael NG, Roberts PC, Makhene M, Coler RN, McCullough MP, Chappell JD, Denison MR, Stevens LJ, Pruijssers AJ, McDermott A, Flach B, Doria-Rose NA, Corbett KS, Morabito KM, O'Dell S, Schmidt SD, Swanson PA 2nd, Padilla M, Mascola JR, Neuzil KM, Bennett H, Sun W, Peters E, Makowski M, Albert J, Cross K, Buchanan W, Pikaart-Tautges R, Ledgerwood JE, Graham BS, Beigel JH; mRNA-1273 Study Group. An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 - Preliminary Report. New England Journal of Medicine 2020 Jul 14; NEJMoa2022483. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2022483.
  • Wrapp D, Wang N, Corbett KS, Goldsmith JA, Hsieh CL, Abiona O, Graham BS, McLellan JS. Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation. Science 2020 Feb 19:eabb2507. doi: 10.1126/science.abb2507.
  • Kanekiyo M, Joyce MG, Gillespie RA, Gallagher JR, Andrews SF, Yassine HM, Wheatley AK, Fisher BE, Ambrozak DR, Creanga A, Leung K, Yang ES, Boyoglu-Barnum S, Georgiev IS, Tsybovsky Y, Prabhakaran MS, Andersen H, Kong WP, Baxa U, Zephir KL, Ledgerwood JE, Koup RA, Kwong PD, Harris AK, McDermott AB, Mascola JR, Graham BS. Mosaic nanoparticle display of diverse influenza virus hemagglutinins elicits broad B cell responses. Nature Immunology 2019 Mar; 20(3):362-372. doi: 10.1038/s41590-018-0305-x.
  • Crank MC, Ruckwardt TJ, Chen M, Morabito KM, Phung E, Costner PJ, Holman LA, Hickman SP, Berkowitz NM, Gordon IJ, Yamshchikov GV, Gaudinski MR, Kumar A, Chang LA, Moin SM, Hill JP, DiPiazza AT, Schwartz RM, Kueltzo L, Cooper JW, Chen P, Stein JA, Carlton K, Gall JG, Nason MC, Kwong PD, Chen GL, Mascola JR, McLellan JS, Ledgerwood JE, Graham BS, and the VRC 317 Study Team. A proof-of-concept for structure-based vaccine design targeting RSV in humans. Science 2019 Aug 2; 365(6452):505-509. doi: 10.1126/science.aav9033.
  • Pallesen J, Wang N, Corbett KS, Wrapp D, Kirchdoerfer RN, Turner HL, Cottrell CA, Becker MM, Wang L, Shi W, Kong WP, Andres EL, Kettenbach AN, Denison MR, Chappell JD, Graham BS, Ward AB, McLellan JS. Immunogenicity and structures of a rationally designed prefusion MERS-CoV spike antigen. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2017 Aug 14. pii: 201707304. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1707304114.
  • Dowd KA, Ko SY, Morabito KM, Yang ES, Pelc RS, DeMaso CR, Castilho LR, Abbink P, Boyd M, Nityanandam R, Gordon DN, Gallagher J, Chen XJ, Todd JP, Tsybovsky Y, Harris A, Huang YS, Higgs S, Vanlandingham DL, Andersen H, Lewis MG, De La Barrera R, Eckels KH, Jarman RG, Nason MC, Barouch DH, Roederer M, Kong WP, Mascola JR, Pierson TC, Graham BS. Rapid development of a DNA vaccine for Zika virus. Science 2016; 354(6309):237-240. doi:10.1126/science.aai3197.
  • Kirchdoerfer RN, Cottrell CA, Wang N, Pallesen J, Yassine HM, Turner HL, Corbett KS, Graham BS, McLellan JS, Ward AB. Prefusion structure of a human coronavirus spike protein. Nature 2016 Mar 3; 531(7592):118-21. doi: 10.1038/nature17200.
  • Ngwuta JO, Chen M, Modjarrad K, Joyce MG, Kanekiyo M, Kumar A, Yassine HM, Moin SM, Killikelly AM, Chuang GY, Druz A, Georgiev IS, Rundlet EJ, Sastry M, Stewart-Jones GBE, Yang Y, Zhang B, Nason MC, Capella C, Peeples ME, Ledgerwood JE, McLellan JS, Kwong PD, Graham BS. Prefusion F-specific antibodies determine the magnitude of RSV neutralizing activity in human sera. Science Translational Medicine 2015 Oct 14; 7(309):309ra162. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aac4241.
  • Yassine HM, Boyington JC, McTamney PM, Wei CJ, Kanekiyo M, Kong WP, Gallagher JR, Wang LS, Zhang Y, Joyce MG, Lingwood D, Moin SM, Andersen H, Okuno Y, Rao SS, Harris AK, Kwong PD, Mascola JR, Nabel GJ, Graham BS. Hemagglutinin stem nanoparticle generates heterosubtypic influenza protection. Nature Medicine 2015 Sep; 21(9):1065-1070. doi: 10.1038/nm.3927.
  • McLellan JS, Chen M, Joyce MG, Sastry M, Stewart-Jones G, Yang YP, Zhang B, Chen L, Srivatsan S, Zheng A, Zhou T, Graepel KW, Kumar A, Moin S, Boyington JC, Chuang GW, Soto C, Baxa U, Bakker AQ, Spits H, Beaumont T, Zheng ZZ, Xia NS, Ko SY, Todd JP, Rao S, Graham BS, Kwong PD. Structure-based design of a fusion glycoprotein vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus. Science 2013; 342:592-598. doi: 10.1126/science.1243283
  • McLellan JS, Chen M, Leung S, Graepel KW, Du X, Yang Y, Zhou T, Baxa U, Yasuda E, Beaumont T, Kumar A, Modjarrad K, Zheng Z, Zhao M, Xia N, Kwong PD, Graham BS. Structure of RSV fusion glycoprotein trimer bound to a prefusion-specific neutralizing antibody. Science 2013; 340:1113-1117.
  • Graham BS, Henderson GS, Tang YW, Lu X, Neuzil KM, Colley DG. Priming immunization determines cytokine mRNA expression patterns in lungs of mice challenged with respiratory syncytial virus. Journal of Immunology 1993; 151:2032-2040.

Commentaries or Reviews

  • Graham BS. The Journey to RSV Vaccines - Heralding an Era of Structure-Based Design. New England Journal of Medicine 2023 Feb 16; 388(7):579-581. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp2216358.
  • Graham BS. Rapid COVID-19 vaccine development. Science 2020 May 8; eabb8923. doi: 10.1126/science.abb8923.
  • Graham BS, Corbett KS. Prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness: World on fire. Journal of Clinical Investigation 2020 Apr 30:139601. doi: 10.1172/JCI139601.
  • Graham BS, Gilman MSA, McLellan JS. Structure-based vaccine antigen design. Annual Review of Medicine 2019 Jan 27; 70:91-104. doi: 10.1146/annurev-med-121217-094234.
  • Graham BS, Sullivan NJ. Emerging viral diseases from a vaccinology perspective: Preparing for the next pandemic. Nature Immunology 2018 Jan;19(1):20-28. doi: 10.1038/s41590-017-0007-9. Epub 2017 Dec 14.
CLICK HERE to view full list of publications.

Honors and Awards

Election into honorary Professional Societies

1989                Fellow in the American College of Physicians

1991                Fellow in the Infectious Diseases Society of America

1993                Southern Society for Clinical Investigation

1996                American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI)

1997                Vanderbilt Chapter of Sigma Xi, honorary research society

1998                Fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology

2002                Association of American Physicians (AAP)

2022                National Academy of Sciences

2025                National Inventors Hall-of-Fame

2025                National Academy of Medicine

2025                National Academy of Inventors

 

Alumni Awards

2017                Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award - University of Kansas School of Medicine

2021                Vanderbilt University Distinguished Alumni Award

2022                Distinguished Alumni Award from the Association of Rice University Alumni

 

Honorary Degrees

2021                Honorary Doctorate (DSc) from University of Kansas

2022                Honorary Doctorate degree and medal from Ghent University Belgium

2023                Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) from Albany Medical College

2024                Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) from Columbia University

 

Awards and Recognition

2014                Robert M. Chanock Memorial Lecture and Award for lifetime contribution to RSV research, 9th International RSV Symposium (RSV 2014), Cape Town, South Africa

2018                Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies), finalist in Innovation category for rapid development of a Zika virus vaccine

2019                Recipient of 1st “Barney Graham Award” established by the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Network (ReSViNET) Foundation based in the Netherlands, presented in Accra, Ghana at the RSVVW’19 meeting

                        2021 recipient – Harish Nair, MBBS, PhD, Professor of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health, University of Edinburgh

                        2023 recipient – Jason S. McLellan, PhD, Professor of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas – Austin

                        2024 recipient – Heather Zar, MD, PhD, Professor & Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health and Director of the School of Child and Adolescent Health at the University of Cape Town, South Africa

                        2026 recipient – Padmini Srikantiah, MD, MPH, Deputy Director, Pneumonia, Lead for RSV program, Gates Foundation

2020                Golden Goose COVID-19 Recognition Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

2021                Dr. Charles Mérieux Award for Achievement in Vaccinology and Immunology from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases

2021                Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award from the Sabin Vaccine Institute for exemplary contributions in the field of vaccinology and disease prevention

2021                Time Magazine 2021 TIME100 list of the hundred most influential people in the world

2021                Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research

2021                Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies), finalist nominated for rapid development of a COVID-19 vaccine, named Federal Employee of the Year

2021                New York Academy of Medicine John Stearns Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Clinical Practice, awarded for lifetime achievement in medicine

2021                Time Magazine Hero of the Year

2021                Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Dean’s Medal

2021                Featured with Dr. Corbett in a Smithsonian FUTURES exhibit describing COVID-19 vaccine development in the Arts + Industries Building and celebrating the Smithsonian’s 175th anniversary. Washington, DC through July 6, 2022. https://aib.si.edu/w07/

2021                New York Stem Cell Foundation Stem Cell Heroes Award

2021                Special Recognition by the Washington Psychiatric Society

2021                Honored by House of Representatives of the 87th Texas Legislature for his contributions to the development of COVID-19 vaccines. 87(2) HR 159

2021                Project C.U.R.E. Founders’ Award for contributions to COVID-19 vaccines

2021                Fred L. Soper Award from American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

2022                John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences

2022                Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases\

2022                Patents for Humanity Award from US Patent and Trademark Office for US Patent No: 10,960,070 B2 Graham et al. “Prefusion Coronavirus Spike Proteins and Their Use”, March 30, 2021, originally filed October 25, 2016.

2022                Celebration of Heroes honoree – Anaheim, CA (hummingbird theme)

2022                Gordon Wilson medal from the American Clinical and Climatologic Association

2023                Morehouse School of Medicine Hugh M. Gloster Society Health Equity IMPACT Award for Excellence in Science and Innovation

2023                Morehouse School of Medicine David Satcher Award for efforts to advance equity in research

2024                IVI-SK Bioscience Park MahnHoon Award for exceptional contributions in the field of vaccines

2024                Time100 most influential people in health

2024                STAT 2024 Status List & Biomedical Innovation Award

2024                Stanley A. Plotkin Lecture in Vaccinology Award for outstanding contributions to infectious diseases through immunization

2025                Building the Foundation Award from Research!America for basic research leading to outstanding achievements in public health (with Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire)

2025                Honored with a musical letter of gratitude, “The Neutralizer”, composed by Alexa Tarrantino and performed by the Wynton Marsalis Jazz Orchestra as part of the Wave the Wheat Suite dedicated to 15 Kansas icons. Leid Center, University of Kansas campus in Lawrence