RAIN
Mar 28, 2019
David Hirschberg, PhD
RAIN

David L Hirschberg is an Affiliate Professor and Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Urban Waters. He also has appointments in School of Engineering and School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, at the University of Washington, Tacoma (UWT). He is a Science and Technology advisor supporting the Joint Program Executive Office and Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC, US Army RDECOM).  At ECBC, Dr. Hirschberg has been working with ECBC leadership to develop long term research programs in biosecurity that leverage technologies being developed in the commercial sector. At UWT, Dr. Hirschberg trains students in critical thinking and to foster careers in biotechnology. He founded and directs the RAIN Incubator, an entity focused on exposing students, colleagues and community members to molecular tools for biomarker discovery in environmental surveillance and medical diagnostics. Dr. Hirschberg’s current projects center on developing accessible technologies that can rapidly detect microbial threats, and on assessing and optimizing devices for commercial, community and military applications.

 Dr. Hirschberg earned his BS degree in Cell Biology from Washington State University, and MS and PhD degrees in Neuroimmunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Israel. He completed his postdoctoral training at Stanford University and is the founder and board member of several biotechnology companies focused on biomarker discovery and measurement. He was part of a collaborative multidisciplinary research group in industry for several years before returning to Stanford to form the Human Immune Monitoring Center, a core facility dedicated to facilitating collaborations in clinical research and development between academia and industry. He was invited to develop a similar core at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University where, as Chief Technology Officer and Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology, he developed and adapted technology for the rapid identification and characterization of pathogens.