The American Association of Immunologists

Max D. Cooper, M.D.

Brief Bio

Max D. Cooper is a professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Developmental Immunology, and a member of the Emory Vaccine Center. Dr. Cooper was president of The American Association of Immunologists from 1988 to 1989 and served on the AAI Council from 1983 to 1988. He was awarded the AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award in 2012, the AAI-Dana Foundation Award for Human Immunology Research (now AAI-Steinman Award for Human Immunology Research) in 2006, and the AAI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, and elected a Distinguished Fellow of AAI in 2019.

Lasker Award

2019 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, with Jacques Miller, "for their discovery of the two distinct classes of lymphocytes, B and T cells – a monumental achievement that provided the organizing principle of the adaptive immune system and launched the course of modern immunology." Click here for more details.

Oral History - Full Interview

Interview Date: Sunday, May 6, 2012
Location: Boston, MA

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Oral History - Transcript

Click here to download the transcript of this interview

Oral History - Clips

Family and Personal Background (1:36)
Decision to Study Science and Medicine (2:01)
Working with Robert Good at the University of Minnesota (1:49)
Bursa of Fabricius Research (9:59)
What Do You Do for Fun? (0:58)
Role of Luck in Career (1:26)

Balancing Professional and Family Life (2:27)
Changes in AAI since 1966 (5:22)
Women in AAI and Immunology (1:28)
State of Science in the United States Today (5:58)
Advice for Trainees (2:57)
Future of Immunology (1:54)

AAI Service History

Joined: 1966
President: 1988–1989
Vice President: 1987–1988
Councillor: 1983–1987

The Journal of Immunology
Associate Editor: 1973–1976
Section Editor: 1977–1979

Committees
Membership Committee: 1974–1977 (chair)
Frederick B. Bang Scholarships Committee: 1987–1995
Awards Committee: 1993–1996
Nominating Committee: 1997–1998, 2002–2003 (chair)

Other Service
AAI Representatives on IUIS General Assembly: 1983–1986
AAI Representative to the IUIS Council: 1986–1992
AAI Representative to the FASEB Board: 1987–1990
AAI Representative to the FASEB Executive Committee: 1987–1990

Awards and Honors

Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1988
Member, Institute of Medicine, 1990
Sandoz Prize for Immunology (now the Novartis Basic and Clinical Immunology Prizes), 1990
AAI Lifetime Achievement Award, 2000
AAI-Dana Foundation Award for Human Immunology Research (now AAI-Steinman Award for Human Immunology Research), 2006
Avery-Landsteiner Prize, 2008
Robert Koch Prize, 2010
AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award, 2012
Distinguished Fellow, AAI, 2019
Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, 2019

Institutional/Biographical Links

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, profile
Emory Vaccine Center, Emory University School of Medicine, profile
Georgia Research Alliance profile
Howard Hughes Medical Institute alumni profile