Jody L. Baron

Jody L. Baron is a Research Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), affiliated with the Department of Microbiology & Immunology within the School of Medicine. His career spans clinical training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Stanford University and UCSF, respectively, alongside prestigious postdoctoral fellowships including the Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator award. His research integrates structural biology, immunology, and liver disease investigations.

• Education: BA in Biology & Philosophy (Rice University, 1986), MD (Yale, 1993), PhD in Immunobiology (Yale, 1994)
• Clinical Training: Residency in Internal Medicine (Stanford, 1993-95), Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases (UCSF, 1995-96)

Baron's research focuses on TGF-β signaling mechanisms, integrin-mediated immune regulation, and immune responses to hepatitis viruses (B and C). His work on αvβ8 integrin's role in tumor immune evasion and liver disease highlights intersections between structural biology and immunopathology. Publications span high-impact journals like Cell, Science Immunology, and JCI Insight, emphasizing liver cancer, infectious disease, and signal transduction.

Recent studies highlight dynamic allostery in TGF-β activation, liver stem cell perturbation by HCV, and integrin structure analysis. These align with fields such as molecular biology, virology, and cancer biology, with subfields including immune checkpoint regulation, organoid modeling, and protein conformational dynamics.

• Key Awards: Westinghouse Science Talent Search (1982), NIH Fellowships, Burroughs Wellcome Career Award (2002), Cancer Research Institute Investigator award (2006-2011), HHMI/BWF Leadership Coaching Award (2002)
• Grants: UCSF Liver Center pilot grant, Pfizer Postdoctoral Fellowship in Infectious Diseases

Baron collaborates extensively within UCSF and beyond, contributing to projects on fibroinflammatory airway disease, immune priming in the liver capsule, and T-cell dynamics. His work bridges basic science and translational research, particularly in hepatitis and liver cancer contexts.