Daniel E. Goldberg, MD, PhD

Daniel E. Goldberg, MD, PhD, professor of molecular microbiology and of medicine, is being honored as an exceptional and dedicated mentor for postdoctoral research students.

Goldberg’s trainees describe him as a gifted mentor, excellent role model and good listener who is unfailingly accessible, generous, insightful and supportive. He excels in guiding young scientists through every aspect of establishing a successful biomedical research career, providing guidance on experiment design, technical challenges, data interpretation, employee management, grant writing, and short- and long-term career planning.

Goldberg’s trainees point to him as the foundation of their success. They have gone on to excel in diverse arenas; more than 10 of them have established research programs in leading institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, Mayo Clinic and the University of Washington, and one of his former trainees is the chief scientific officer at the Pentagon.

Goldberg, also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, studies the biology of the malaria parasite, employing a combination of genetics, cell biology and biochemistry to understand the role its proteins play in allowing the parasite to survive and cause disease. An overall goal is to identify targets for drug therapy. In 2010 his laboratory found such a target when they defined the role of a protein called plasmepsin V as being essential to the parasite’s ability to take over control of red blood cells.

He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, holds editorial responsibilities with several major scientific journals and has served on numerous NIH panels and boards.

He earned his medical and doctoral degrees from Washington University in 1985; he then completed residency training at Harvard, an infectious diseases fellowship at Washington University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University. He joined the Washington University faculty in 1990.