Daniel O'Connell Griffin (born 15 July 1967) is an American physician-scientist and infectious disease specialist. He is president of the nonprofit organization Parasites Without Borders, Chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at Island Infectious Disease Medical, and former Chief of Infectious Disease at Optum Tri-State.[1]
Griffin is a co-director of the life science podcast network Microbe.TV, where he co-hosts several shows, including This Week in Virology (TWiV), This Week in Parasitism, and The Infectious Disease Puscast.[8] His weekly COVID Clinical Update podcast has been cited for its role in translating emerging clinical knowledge during the pandemic.[9]
Griffin co-authored the textbook Parasitic Diseases (7th edition 2019),[10][11] available in more than 100 countries. In 2017, he published the paper Human B1 cells in umbilical cord and adult peripheral blood express the novel phenotype CD20+CD27+CD43+CD70 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. He also contributed chapters to major infectious disease texts, including the AAP Red Book (2021, 2024, and 2027 editions) and Elsevier's Textbook of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 (2023).[12]
He is senior fellow in infectious disease at United Health Group,[13] Instructor in Clinical Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Centre, and Infectious Disease Clinician Chief, Pro Health Care.[7]
Griffin's work includes investigating the potential role of human B1 cells and natural antibodies in the development of HIV-associated malignancies.[4][14] He has a special focus on HIV and tropical medicine.[15] His research interests are broad and include studies on infectious disease and immunology, molecular medicine, and tropical medicine.[citation needed] As of 2021, his research focused on HIV-1, stem cell latency, stem cell gene therapy using retroviral vectors, and COVID-19.[16][17] He has since published extensively on Long COVID, COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, monoclonal antibody therapies, and public health policy. Notable recent publications have appeared in Nature Communications, BMJ Open, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, and Blood Advances.
Griffin has volunteered with the nonprofit Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children, including conducting mandatory health education sessions for its staff.[18][19][20] He joined the biomedical research community of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University.[citation needed] He is an associate research scientist in Columbia's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, instructor of clinical medicine, and a member of the division of infectious diseases.[21][4]
Science communication
Griffin co-authored at least two editions of a textbook on parasitology, Parasitic Diseases, with Dickson Despommier.[22] The two men decided to found the nonprofit organization Parasites Without Borders to disseminate clinical information about parasitic disease, including the textbook.[23][24][22][25] As of June 2021, 40,000 copies had been distributed to over 100 countries.[25]
He has co-hosted This Week in Parasitism since episode 80 and joined This Week in Virology in March 2020 to deliver weekly clinical updates on COVID-19. He later became a host of The Infectious Disease Puscast, further expanding his public engagement in infectious disease education.[26]
In early March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic began to seriously affect the New York City area, Griffin began providing clinical updates about the virus based on his practice and correspondence with medical colleagues around the world on another podcast hosted by Racaniello, This Week in Virology (TWiV).[27] Eventually the popularity of the clinical updates resulted in Racaniello publishing them in standalone episodes of TWiV.[28] As of May 2022, Griffin had provided 112 such clinical updates on TWiV.[9]
In 2024, he gave keynote addresses for the Maine Medical Association and the Taiwanese Medical Association, and spoke at the Asia Pacific Regional Conference of WONCA in Singapore.
Affiliations
Griffin is a member in the following scientific societies or associations:
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