Eric Gerhard Meissner, MD, PhD

Dr. Meissner was appointed assistant professor in the MUSC infectious diseases division in August 2014. Originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he attended Middlebury College where he majored in biochemistry and graduated summa cum laude. He completed his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at UNC-Chapel Hill (Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology) and then pursued internal medicine training at the University of Washington in Seattle. He completed his infectious diseases fellowship and post-doctoral work at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, where he focused on the associations of host innate immunity and metabolism with treatment outcome during interferon-free treatment of hepatitis C virus infection. Dr. Meissner studies the interaction between the host immune system and chronic viral infections, with a particular interest in hepatitis C and HIV. Goals of the research program include understanding mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, exploring genetic determinants of disease severity, researching links between innate immunity and metabolism, and elucidating reasons for differential treatment responses in groups of individuals.