Edward Abraham
Professor and Dean
Wake Forest School of Medicine
M.D. Degree – Stanford University
Dr. Abraham received both his undergraduate and medical degrees at Stanford University and trained in internal and critical care medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Immunobiology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
After completing his training, Dr. Abraham joined the faculty at UCLA, where he was Associate Director of the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, Program Director of the Multi‐Hospital Critical Care Training Program, Chief of Critical Care Services in the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine.
In 1993, Dr. Abraham moved to the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. His numerous leadership roles during 13 years at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center included Program Director of the Critical Care Medicine Fellowship, Vice Chair for Administrative Affairs in the Department of Medicine, Director of the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine, Roger Sherman Mitchell Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, and Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine.
In 2006, Dr. Abraham moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) as Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine. During his five years as chair of medicine at UAB, the department increased research funding by 25 percent, developed a physician‐scientist track in the residency program, initiated a mentoring program for junior faculty, enhanced diversity among faculty and trainees, and fostered a culture of collaboration and teamwork among faculty and staff.
He is a proven leader and an accomplished scientist with basic, translational and clinical research programs that have received continuous National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for more than 25 years. Dr. Abraham has been either the principal or co‐investigator on more than $35 million in NIH grants or contracts and $58 million in other research funding. He also holds four patents. Dr. Abraham’s research has focused on inflammation, neutrophil biology, acute lung injury, and sepsis.
Dr. Abraham joined the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center as dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine on August 1, 2011. He also holds a faculty appointment as professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Immunologic Diseases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Critical Care Medicine, as well as a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, American Thoracic Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Dr. Abraham has received numerous honors, including most recently the Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments from the American Thoracic Society. He has been Associate Editor and Section Editor for the Journal of Immunology, serves on the editorial boards of 13 other journals, and is the editor emeritus of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. He has published more than 350 original research articles, reviews, editorials and book chapters.
Dr. Abraham’s family includes his wife, Norma‐May Isakow, Associate Director at the Institute for Public Engagement at Wake Forest University, daughter Claire, a graduate of Stanford University, and daughter Erin, a junior at Dartmouth College.
