Immunologist Named UB Distinguished Medical Alumnus

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Joseph A. Bellanti, M.D., director of Georgetown University's International Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Immunology, received the Distinguished Medical Alumnus Award from the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at a dinner in his honor held recently in The Buffalo Club.

Bellanti, an expert in developmental immunology, earned a bachelor's degree from UB in 1954 and a medical degree in 1958. Before beginning his career at Georgetown, he interned at Millard Fillmore Hospital, completed a pediatric residency at Children's Hospital of Buffalo, was a National Institutes of Health trainee in immunology and spent two years as a research virologist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C.

Bellanti joined the Georgetown faculty in 1963 as an assistant professor of pediatrics and microbiology, and by 1970 had attained the rank of professor in both fields. He also is director of the Division of Immunology and Virology in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital.

Adopting a multidisciplinary approach to medical research before it was fashionable, Bellanti spearheaded development in 1975 of the International Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Immunology at Georgetown. The center brought together basic and clinical researchers, allied health professionals, statisticians and health educators. He has been director of the center since its inception.

Bellanti has held many leadership positions in professional societies, including director, and later co-chair, of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology; president of the Society for Pediatric Research and of the American College of Allergy and Immunology; member of the board of directors of the National Coalition for Disease Prevention and Environmental Health, and member of the board of regents of the American College of Allergists.

An author of more than 200 scientific articles and abstracts, Bellanti is editor of the textbook "Immunology" and served for 10 years as editor-in-chief of Pediatric Research. He also is past editor of Annals of Allergy.