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Joel Kowit, PhD
 
joel@immunologyworkshops.com

Dr. Kowit is Professor of Biology, Emmanuel College, Boston, and has been at Emmanuel since 1975.  He received his undergraduate degree, in physics from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in Biology from Brandeis University.  He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School from 1972-1975, supported by a fellowship from The Arthritis Foundation where he studied the process of protein degradation.
 
Dr. Kowit's principle interests are in the cell biology and mechanisms of antigen processing and presentation, as well as the interaction of various diseases with the immune system (e.g., HIV), including the use of microarrays in identifying virulence genes of pathogens.  He has spent time at the Department of Infectious Diseases, St. George's Hospital Medical School in London and has served as consultant to various biotech/pharmaceutical companies on a variety of topics including the development of therapeutic monoclonal antibody treatments.  Dr. Kowit is also on the Emmanuel College President’s Science Advisory Council and has long been actively involved in strategic planning for the sciences at the College.  He developed and taught “Science Communication for Scientists,” at Emmanuel College, a course which helps to train new scientists to better communicate their findings with both the professional and lay audience.
 
Given the importance of immunology in drug research and development, and the interdisciplinary nature of the field, Dr. Kowit founded Immunology Workshops ™ in 1981 to provide both a basic foundation in immunology and an update on recent important developments in the field to scientists who may come from a variety of fields (organic and analytical chemistry, clinical research, molecular biology, infectious disease, molecular modeling, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, quality control, regulatory, statistics.)  Over the past 27 years, he has presented this course to more than 8,000 scientists at over 40 pharmaceutical companies and divisions.
 
Dr. Kowit likes to hike, does oil painting, rides and sometimes trains horses, and for 20 years has helped moved cattle for a week or two each summer at E.O.Bischoff ranch in northern Wyoming.
Josef Kurtz, PhD

joe@immunologyworkshops.com
 
Dr. Kurtz is currently an Instructor of Surgery (Immunology) at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant Immunologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the Bone Marrow Section of the Transplantation Biology Research Center.  He is also an Assistant Professor of Biology at Emmanuel College in Boston, MA.  Dr. Kurtz received his undergraduate degree in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School in the Program in Immunology.  Currently, he is co-Director of the Immunology Workshops, a company that provides consulting and educational workshops for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.  In addition, Dr. Kurtz serves as the Chief Science Officer for Aquatrove Biosciences, Inc., a company founded to improve human health by applying new biotechnological discoveries to the design and delivery of unique over-the-counter products, most recently a proprietary next-generation water-based moisturizing and cell-preserving agent.  

Dr. Kurtz’s research interests include the mechanisms of immune tolerance in both transplantation and Type I diabetes.  Furthermore, he is a founder of the Neuro-Immunology Research Group at Emmanuel College, which is currently investigating the interaction between the immune system and the central nervous system.  Dr. Kurtz has presented at numerous national and international conferences on his work, and has published extensively in the field.

In his free time, Dr. Kurtz likes to swim, bike, and run for really long distances, and spoils his dog Crick a bit too much.