After growing up in small towns in West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, Doug Kuhns relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he received his B.S. in biology and biochemistry from the University of Pittsburgh. Kuhns continued his education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, receiving his Ph.D. in 1985 from the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology. He spent two years as a National Research Council Fellow at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. In 1988, Kuhns joined Program Resources, Inc., a precursor to the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, as the head of the Neutrophil Monitoring Laboratory. Today, his laboratory provides clinical and basic research support to NIAID’s Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, specializing in the development of tests to help diagnose patients with rare genetic immunodeficiencies that alter neutrophil function. In 2017, he became head of the Immunological Monitoring Laboratory, which focuses on supporting monitored clinical trials of patients with specific viral and bacterial infections, such as Epstein-Barr virus, influenza, and Lyme disease. With over 100 publications, Kuhns and his staff have made numerous major contributions in the field of neutrophil biology and infectious diseases.
