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2025
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Immunology
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2026

D-Index & Metrics

Best Scientists

D-Index
174
Citations
127407
World Ranking
740
National Ranking
455

Immunology

D-Index
176
Citations
132402
World Ranking
41
National Ranking
30

Medicine

D-Index
177
Citations
133518
World Ranking
400
National Ranking
245

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Immunology in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Immunology in United States Leader Award
  • 2020 - Distinguished Fellows of the American Association of Immunologists (AAI)
  • 2018 - Fellow, National Academy of Inventors
  • 2017 - Robert Koch Prize
  • 2015 - AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award, American Association of Immunologists
  • 2014 - Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)
  • 2009 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 1999 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

Rafi Ahmed is affiliated with Emory University in the United States and has contributed extensively to the fields of Medicine, Immunology, and Microbiology. Their research encompasses subfields such as Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Oncology, Epidemiology, and Molecular Biology.

Their main topics of research include:

  • Immune Cell Function and Interaction
  • SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Immunotherapy and Immune Responses
  • Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
  • CAR-T cell therapy research
  • T-cell and B-cell Immunology
  • COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies

Rafi Ahmed has collaborated frequently with several researchers, including:

  • Mehul S. Suthar
  • Susanne L. Linderman
  • Tahseen H. Nasti
  • Carl W. Davis
  • Lilin Lai

The scientist has published notably in the following venues:

  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
  • International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Journal of Clinical Oncology
  • The Journal of Immunology

Some of their recent papers include:

  • Rapid Generation of Neutralizing Antibody Responses in COVID-19 Patients, 2020, Cell Reports Medicine
  • Longitudinal analysis shows durable and broad immune memory after SARS-CoV-2 infection with persisting antibody responses and memory B and T cells, 2021, Cell Reports Medicine
  • Functional HPV-specific PD-1+ stem-like CD8 T cells in head and neck cancer, 2021, Nature
  • PD-1 combination therapy with IL-2 modifies CD8+ T cell exhaustion program, 2022, Nature
  • Infection- and vaccine-induced antibody binding and neutralization of the B.1.351 SARS-CoV-2 variant, 2021, Cell Host & Microbe

The following awards have been conferred to Rafi Ahmed:

  • Distinguished Fellows of the American Association of Immunologists (AAI), 2020
  • Fellow, National Academy of Inventors, 2018
  • Robert Koch Prize, 2017
  • AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award, American Association of Immunologists, 2015
  • Member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), 2014
  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2009
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 1999

Best Publications

  • Restoring function in exhausted CD8 T cells during chronic viral infection.

    Daniel L. Barber;E. John Wherry;David Masopust;Baogong Zhu

  • PD-1 expression on HIV-specific T cells is associated with T-cell exhaustion and disease progression

    Cheryl L Day;Daniel E Kaufmann;Photini Kiepiela;Julia A Brown

  • Molecular Signature of CD8+ T Cell Exhaustion during Chronic Viral Infection

    E. John Wherry;Sang Jun Ha;Susan M. Kaech;W. Nicholas Haining

  • Viral Immune Evasion Due to Persistence of Activated T Cells Without Effector Function

    Allan J. Zajac;Joseph N. Blattman;Kaja Murali-Krishna;David J.D. Sourdive

  • Effector and memory T-cell differentiation: implications for vaccine development

    Susan M. Kaech;E. John Wherry;Rafi Ahmed

  • Counting Antigen-Specific CD8 T Cells: A Reevaluation of Bystander Activation during Viral Infection

    Kaja Murali-Krishna;John D Altman;M Suresh;David J.D Sourdive

  • Lineage relationship and protective immunity of memory CD8 T cell subsets.

    E. John Wherry;Volker Teichgräber;Todd C. Becker;David Masopust

  • Selective expression of the interleukin 7 receptor identifies effector CD8 T cells that give rise to long-lived memory cells

    Susan M Kaech;Joyce T Tan;E John Wherry;Bogumila T Konieczny

  • Immunological Memory and Protective Immunity: Understanding Their Relation

    Rafi Ahmed;David Gray

  • Defining CD8 + T cells that provide the proliferative burst after PD-1 therapy

    Se Jin Im;Masao Hashimoto;Michael Y Gerner;Michael Y Gerner;Junghwa Lee

  • Viral Persistence Alters CD8 T-Cell Immunodominance and Tissue Distribution and Results in Distinct Stages of Functional Impairment

    E. John Wherry;Joseph N. Blattman;Kaja Murali-Krishna;Robbert van der Most

  • The function of programmed cell death 1 and its ligands in regulating autoimmunity and infection

    Arlene H Sharpe;E John Wherry;Rafi Ahmed;Gordon J Freeman

  • mTOR regulates memory CD8 T-cell differentiation

    Koichi Araki;Alexandra P. Turner;Virginia Oliva Shaffer;Shivaprakash Gangappa

  • Memory CD8+ T cell differentiation: initial antigen encounter triggers a developmental program in naïve cells.

    Susan M. Kaech;Rafi Ahmed

  • Humoral immunity due to long-lived plasma cells

    Mark K Slifka;Rustom Antia;Jason K Whitmire;Rafi Ahmed

  • Effector and memory CD8 + T cell fate coupled by T-bet and eomesodermin

    Andrew M Intlekofer;Naofumi Takemoto;E John Wherry;E John Wherry;Sarah A Longworth

  • CD4+ T cells are required to sustain CD8+ cytotoxic T-cell responses during chronic viral infection.

    M. Matloubian;R. J. Concepcion;Rafi Ahmed

  • Systems biology approach predicts immunogenicity of the yellow fever vaccine in humans

    Troy D Querec;Rama Akondy;Eva K Lee;Weiping Cao

  • Rapid cloning of high-affinity human monoclonal antibodies against influenza virus

    Jens Wrammert;Kenneth Smith;Joe Miller;William A. Langley

  • Molecular and Functional Profiling of Memory CD8 T Cell Differentiation

    Susan M. Kaech;Scott Hemby;Ellen Kersh;Rafi Ahmed

  • Molecular Signature of CD8+ T Cell Exhaustion during Chronic Viral Infection (DOI:10.1016/j.immuni.2007.09.006)

    E. John Wherry;Sang Jun Ha;Susan M. Kaech;W. Nicholas Haining

Frequent Co-Authors

E. John Wherry
E. John Wherry University of Pennsylvania
Jens Wrammert
Jens Wrammert Emory University
Bali Pulendran
Bali Pulendran Stanford University
Susan M. Kaech
Susan M. Kaech Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Gordon J. Freeman
Gordon J. Freeman Harvard University
Rustom Antia
Rustom Antia Emory University
John D. Altman
John D. Altman Emory University
David Masopust
David Masopust University of Minnesota
Christian P. Larsen
Christian P. Larsen Emory University
Arlene H. Sharpe
Arlene H. Sharpe Harvard University

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