Overview

Dr. Pearson and his long-time collaborator Dr. Chris Larsen played a pivotal role in developing the class of immunosuppressive drugs known as costimulation blockers. In 1996, Dr. Larsen, Dr. Pearson, and others published an article in Nature that provided evidence that blocking one of the immune signals required for organ rejection (costimulatory blockage) at the time of transplantation promoted long-term survival of organ allografts in rodents. This finding was rapidly translated to primates at the Emory National Primate Research Center and later to humans.

In March 2010, Dr. Pearson, Dr. Larsen, and their colleagues published the data from two international phase III clinical trials of belatacept in the American Journal of Transplantation, concluding that the then-experimental drug could prevent graft rejection in kidney transplant recipients while better preserving kidney function and maintaining lower blood pressure and cholesterol when compared to standard immunosuppressive medications. In June 2011, the FDA approved belatacept in the form of the drug Nulojix for the prevention of graft rejection after kidney transplants. The drug is now being tested in clinical trials for kidney transplant, liver transplant, and pancreatic islet transplant.

In addition to being an eminent scientist, Dr. Pearson is also a highly accomplished transplant surgeon and has been involved in such milestones as the performance of Georgia's first islet transplant.

Academic Appointment

• Livingston Professor of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine

Education

Research