Rate My Professor Larry Corey

Professor Larry Corey is a leading expert in Health Science at Fred Hutch Cancer Center, holding the position of President and Director Emeritus. He earned a B.S. with high distinction from the University of Michigan in 1967 and an M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1971, completing infectious diseases training at the University of Washington. Corey serves as Professor in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Clinical Research Division, and Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch, as well as Professor of Medicine and Laboratory Medicine and in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is Principal Investigator of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), which conducts studies at over 80 sites across 16 countries, and Principal Investigator of the Fred Hutch-based operations center for the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN), co-leading its vaccine testing pipeline. Previously, he directed the AIDS Clinical Trials Group starting in 1987, co-founded the HVTN in 1998, and led Fred Hutch as President and Director from 2011 to 2014. As a physician at Fred Hutch, he practices at the Sloan Clinic and Virology Research Clinic at Harborview.

Corey's research focuses on virology, viral immunology, and vaccine development, particularly herpes simplex virus pathogenesis, host immune responses at mucosal surfaces, and immunotherapies for chronic viral infections including HSV-1/2, HIV, EBV, VZV, and HHV-8. In the early 1980s, he collaborated with Gertrude Elion to develop acyclovir as the first effective antiviral for genital herpes, proving its safety for long-term use and inspiring therapies for HIV, hepatitis B/C, cytomegalovirus, and influenza. His discoveries include genital herpes increasing HIV susceptibility, early HIV replication in blood necessitating prompt therapy, and antivirals preventing mother-to-infant HIV transmission, alongside combination antiretroviral treatments extending HIV patient life expectancy. Under his leadership, programs at Fred Hutch and the University of Washington developed diagnostics reducing transplant complications and boosting long-term survival by 41%. With over 850 publications, notable works include "Efficacy and Safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine" (New England Journal of Medicine, 2021) and "A strategic approach to COVID-19 vaccine R&D" (Science, 2020). Awards include the Alexander Fleming Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (2022), election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012), Cubist-ICAAC Award (2012), E. Russell Alexander Award, and Pan American Society for Clinical Virology Award.