Richard B. Kennedy is a Professor of Medicine and the Co-Director of Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group.
Dr. Kennedy brings a deep understanding of the factors driving the tremendous diversity in human immune responses to vaccines against viral pathogens including influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, SARS-CoV-2, smallpox, varicella, and zika. His research focuses on the role of host genetic variation, age and immunosenescence, nutrition, and other factors on the development and maintenance of immunity following vaccination. His laboratory at Mayo Clinic applies systems biology and vaccinomics approaches to gain a better understanding of the complex interactions that occur during the development of vaccine response in order to predict and control vaccine-induced immune responses and adverse events.
Dr. Kennedy currently serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Vaccine and is a member of the American Association of Immunologists and the American Society for Microbiology. He has served on dozens of NIH study sections and international review panels.
Dr. Kennedy has received several R01 grants from NIH to fund his work on viral vaccine immunology, and he is the Principal Investigator (PI) of a CDC contract using single-cell technologies to evaluate the T cell response to influenza vaccination. He is also a site PI for one of three NIAID Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers.
Dr. Kennedy has over 120 peer-reviewed publications in journals including Lancet Infectious Diseases, the Journal of Infectious Diseases, and Frontiers in Immunology and has authored 8 book chapters, and participated in well over 100 scientific posters, abstracts, and presentations at national and international vaccine, virology, and immunology meetings.
Dr. Kennedy received his B.S. degree in Microbiology from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in Immunology from Mayo Clinic with postdoctoral training in immunogenetics and vaccinology.