Professor David A. Fidock

Dr David Fidock has specialized in malaria research for over 30 years, beginning by studying Plasmodium falciparum pre-erythrocytic stages from the perspective of parasite-host immune interactions and vaccine targets, and for the past 20 years focusing on antimalarial chemotherapeutics and understanding drug mode of action and mechanisms of resistance. He is best known for his work on developing genetic technologies to define the molecular basis of parasite resistance to first-line drugs, as well as defining resistance to compounds in the antimalarial drug discovery and development pipeline. His >240 research publications on malaria include definitive publications characterizing molecular determinants of parasite resistance to chloroquine, piperaquine and artemisinin. His work is highly collaborative, working with partners across the world to advance our understanding of antimalarial resistance and how that knowledge can be leveraged to propose region-specific therapeutic approaches to treat drug-resistant P. falciparum infections. His lab also serves as the reference center on defining antimalarial resistance for the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) in Geneva. He is also an active founding member of the Malaria Drug Accelerator Consortium (MalDA), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and focused on identifying new druggable targets and leveraging those into identifying new antimalarial chemotypes. His research is also supported by the US Department of Defense and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Dr Fidock was born in France and completed his undergraduate studies in Australia, majoring in genetics, mathematics and computer science. He began malaria research as a technician at Biotechnology Australia in Sydney prior to returning to France to pursue a PhD on malaria at the Pasteur Institute, mentored by Dr Pierre Druilhe. He received the Emile Roux Bourse and later became Assistant de Recherche. He pursued postdoctoral sabbaticals at University of California, Irvine and the NIH, mentored by Drs Anthony James and Thomas Wellems, respectively. He started his independent group at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2000 and since 2007 has been a tenured faculty at Columbia University.

Dr Fidock is the recipient of the 2014 Bailey K. Ashford Medal from the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH) for distinguished work in the field of tropical medicine, and the 2016 Global Australian of the Year award in Life Sciences. In 2020 he received the William Trager Award from the ASTMH for transformational research in parasitology and the Project of the Year award from the MMV. In 2021 he founded the Center for Malaria Therapeutics and Antimicrobial Resistance at Columbia University. He has served as a standing member of the NIH Drug Discovery and Resistance study section, a society-elected member of the ASTMH Board (2016-2019) and Director of the Columbia University Graduate Program in Microbiology, Immunology and Infection since 2008.  He also earlier served as a member of the Technical Expert Group on Drug Efficacy and Response for the WHO Global Malaria Programme.