Yousef Al-Abed

Yousef Al-Abed is the head of the Center for Molecular Innovation at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System's Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, in Manhasset, New York. An organic chemist by training, Dr. Al-Abed holds dual-appointment as a Professor of Molecular Medicine and Medicine at the Hofstra University North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.

Education

Dr. Al-Abed received his Bachelor's of Science degree in Chemistry and Chemical Technology from the College of Science and Technology in Jerusalem in 1985, followed by his Master's in Science degree in organic chemistry from the University of Jordan, in Amman, Jordan in 1989 and his Phd in organic chemistry from the University of Tübingen, Germany in 1994. He then served as a postdoctoral investigator at the Picower Institute for Medical Research, .

Research

As the head of the Center for Molecular Innovation, Dr. Al-Abed leads the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for human diseases including lupus, arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and sepsis . Dr. Al-Abed's chief scientific contributions come in the field of Macrophage migration inhibitory factor as a prime candidate for small molecule drug targeting. As a result, multiple major pharmaceutical companies have heavily invested in MIF as a drug target .

Awards

• 1990–1993 Deutscher Akademischer Austausschdienst (DAAD) Fellow, U of Tübingen
• 1998-1999 Alexander von Humboldt Award
• 1997-1999 American Heart Association Award
• 2007-2008 Alzheimer Drug Discovery Foundation & Elan
• 2007-2010 American Heart Association Award

References

1. Feinstein Institute
2. About PI
3. Al-Abed, Y., Metz, C., Cheng, K., Al-Jabari, B., VanPatten, S., Blau, S., Lee, H., Ochani, M., Pavlov, V., Coleman, T., Meurice, N., Tracey, K., Miller, E. 2011. “Thyroxine is a potential endogenous antagonist of MIF activity.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108(20):8224-7.