Longnecker Named Sear Research Professor

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Richard Longnecker, professor of microbiology-immunology in Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, has been named the Dan and Bertha Spear Research Professor.

Longnecker is an internationally recognized leader in the study of Epstein-Barr viruses (EBV). His work focuses on the association of EBV with cancer, mechanisms regulating viral persistence and EBV entry. He recently expanded his research to study herpes simplex virus (HSV).

The John Edward Porter Professor since 2008, Longnecker is the past director of the Viral Oncogenesis Basic Science Program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and former director of Feinberg’s Integrated Graduate Program in Life Sciences.

A Stohlman Scholar of the Leukemia Society of America and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, Longnecker is the author of more than 140 peer-reviewed manuscripts. His research consistently is funded by extramural grants from the National Institutes of Health.

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