Professor George Hajishengallis earned a DDS from the University of Athens, Greece, and a PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Following postdoctoral studies in Microbiology and Immunology at UAB and the University at Buffalo, he held faculty appointments at Louisiana State University and the University of Louisville. He is currently the Thomas W. Evans Centennial Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Department of Microbiology.

George’s field of interest lies at the host-microbe interface and his work has illuminated novel mechanisms of microbial dysbiosis and inflammation. More recently, his laboratory identified key molecules involved in the homeostasis of the periodontium and other host tissues.

He combines basic scientific and translational research, leading to innovative approaches to clinical problems. His research program is supported by the NIH/NIDCR and he has published extensively in journals such as Nature Immunology, Science Translational Medicine, Cell Host & Microbe, Nature Communications, PNAS, Science Signaling, Nature Reviews Immunology, and Nature Reviews Microbiology.

He was awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award in Oral Biology from the IADR in 2012. In 2016, he received a MERIT award from the NIH.