De'Broski R. Herbert

Dr. De'Broski R. Herbert is an immunologist whose career has focused on research in infectious disease, mucosal immunity, and parasitology. Herbert earned a doctoral degree in immunology from Thomas Jefferson University, where he trained under parasitologist David Abraham. He completed postdoctoral research in infectious immunology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, mentored by Frank Brombacher of the Max Planck Institute. This international experience shaped a research program contributing to the understanding of host-parasite interactions.

Herbert began his academic career as a research instructor at the University of Cincinnati, advanced to research assistant professor, and then served as an assistant professor at Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation. He was later recruited to the Division of Experimental Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, where he became associate professor of medicine. Herbert joined the University of Pennsylvania as an associate professor of immunology and was named Penn Presidential Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, as well as associate director of the PennVet Institute for Infectious and Zoonotic Disease. He later joined Tulane University School of Medicine as a professor of immunology.

Herbert's research centers on infectious disease, mucosal tissue inflammation, neuroimmunology, and parasitology, with a particular focus on parasitic helminths. His group has contributed to understanding mechanisms controlling the development of alternatively activated macrophages and Type 2 inflammation in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. Herbert has maintained continuous NIH-R01 funding and has authored manuscripts published in Science, Science Immunology, Nature Medicine, Nature Communications, Immunity, PNAS, PLoS Pathogens, and Journal of Immunology. His laboratory's research published in Nature Immunology explored how the parasitic worm Schistosoma mansoni can evade the body's defenses by bypassing the itch response.

In addition to basic research, Herbert has conducted formative work in Nigeria, examining biological samples from children in the Hausa State. His research portfolio contributes to Penn's strength in neglected diseases of poverty. Herbert has held leadership positions including director of Penn's NIH-funded Parasitology T32 training program, director of the Immunology graduate group admissions, and program leader for Allergy, Asthma, and Inflammatory Disease at the Penn Institute for Immunology.

Herbert has received honors such as the National Foundation of Infectious Disease Colin Powell Tropical Disease Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for Minorities, the National Research Foundation of South Africa Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the American Association of Immunologists Travel Award. He has also received the Burroughs Wellcome Award for Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease and served as a Burke Family Global Health Faculty Scholar at UCSF Global Health Sciences. Herbert serves on the editorial boards of Infection and Immunity and Journal of Immunology, and on the scientific advisory boards for Keystone Symposia and the American Institute of Biological Sciences. He is a member of the American Association of Immunologists, the Society of Mucosal Immunology, the American Thoracic Society, and the International Cytokine and Interferon Society.