Dr. Michael Ison was born in St. Petersburg, Florida.  He attended Grinnell College where we received his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and Chinese Studies before returning to Florida where he obtain is medical degree at the University of South Florida College of Medicine.  He then completed his Internal Medicine Residency and General Internal Medicine Fellowship at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon.  He then obtained his Master of Science in Health Evaluation Sciences and did his Infectious Diseases Fellowship at the University of Virginia.  During his fellowship, he was mentored by Drs. Fredrick Hayden, Larisa Gubareva, and Tom Brachiale.  His research focused on the immunopathogenesis of influenza and its treatment in immunosuppressed and hospitalized patients.  He developed a immunocompromised mouse model of influenza to study the development of antiviral resistance.  In addition, he did studies of the pharmacokinetics and outcomes of treatment with oseltamivir, zanamivir, and rimantidine in hospitalized patients.  After leaving the University of Virginia, he undertook additional training in Transplant Infectious Diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School under the mentorship of Dr. Jay A. Fishman.  He then joined the faculty of the Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Organ Transplantation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2005.  He is currently the Medical Director of the Transplant & Immunocompromised Host Infectious Diseases Service, Northwestern University Comprehensive Transplant Center.

He has continued to be a significant researcher in the field of transplant infections.  His primary focus is on respiratory viruses in this unique population.  He was a lead investigator for studies to determine how to prevent and treat influenza in immunocompromised patients.  Additionally, he is considered an expert in adenovirus infections in immunosuppressed patients and has contributed to the design of several treatment studies for adenovirus.  He has also participated in a number of studies to optimize the management of CMV, BK virus, Norovirus and fungal infections in transplant recipients. Dr. Ison has also been heavily involved in describing the epidemiology of donor-derived disease transmission among organ recipients.  

Dr. Ison is currently the President of The Transplant Infectious Diseases Section of TTS.