Jay Rappaport, PhD

Jay Rappaport, PhD is the director and chief academic officer of the Tulane National Primate Research and a tenured Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Tulane University of School of Medicine. He transferred his research program from Temple University to the primate center in 2018 when he became the director of the center, and has been remarkably successful in directing center operations, obtaining funding for the center and university in general, and maintaining a successful research program. 

Dr. Rappaport has co-authored 35 papers since his arrival in 2018 and is supported by seven grants including the NIH/NIAID supported NPRC Coordinating Center grant for COVID-19 research. In response to the COVID-19 emergency, Dr. Rappaport served as a member of the NIH-Public-Private Partnership under the NIH Director’s Office known as the Accelerating Coronavirus Therapeutic Interventions (ACTIV) Preclinical Committee and was a member of the Animal Models Working Group. Dr. Rappaport co-hosted an ACTIV-sponsored long-COVID (PASC) seminar series with associated white paper he co-authored. 

In collaboration with a large expert team at the primate center, Dr. Rappaport initiated studies to develop NHP models for COVID-19 infection in rhesus macaques and African green monkeys using multiple routes of infection including aerosol inoculation and studies to develop vaccines are in planning stages with collaborators at Tulane and outside investigators. Under Dr. Rappaport’s direction, the primate center has established collaborations with NIH-supported investigators and private sector entities on the development of COVID-19 therapeutic strategies and vaccines, and is undertaking research on post-acute COVID sequelae in African green monkeys. The NIH selected the Tulane National Primate Research Center to coordinate the new partnership between the seven federally funded National Primate Research Centers to combine efforts and accelerate promising COVID-19 vaccine and drug research. His laboratory is developing novel therapeutic and vaccine strategies targeting infectious diseases. Dr. Rappaport’s current research focuses on comorbidities associated with viral infection, including HIV=1 and novel approaches to wound healing and skin regeneration.  

Since January 2023, Dr. Rappaport has served as the Editor in Chief for the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, for a two-year term.