Cornell spotlights David Russell’s TB and HIV research legacy

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has highlighted the career and research legacy of David Russell, PhD, in a December 11, 2025 episode of the Cornell Veterinary Podcast, framing his work as a long-running fight against two of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases: tuberculosis and HIV. Russell, the William Kaplan Professor Emeritus of Infection Biology, has spent decades studying how macrophages interact with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV, with a focus on why some host cells suppress infection while others allow it to persist. Cornell says that work has expanded from basic host-pathogen biology into fluorescence-based drug screening, human collaborations in Malawi and South Africa, and recent publications on macrophage heterogeneity and early control of TB in the lung. (vet.cornell.edu)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, Russell’s story is a reminder that veterinary colleges remain central to comparative and translational infectious-disease research, even when the target diseases are primarily human. His work sits squarely in the One Health space: tuberculosis remains the world’s leading infectious killer, causing an estimated 1.23 million deaths in 2024, while HIV-TB coinfection continues to shape disease burden in high-risk regions. Research that clarifies macrophage biology, intracellular persistence, and host-directed therapy could inform future approaches to zoonotic disease, antimicrobial resistance, and cross-species immunology. (vet.cornell.edu)

What to watch: Watch for whether Cornell’s renewed public spotlight on Russell’s work leads to broader visibility for host-directed TB therapeutics, new translational collaborations, or follow-on funding tied to macrophage-targeted infectious-disease research. (vet.cornell.edu)