Profile-Mark Kaplan

Mark Kaplan, M.D.

I have been at the University of Michigan for 11 years working in the Markovitz laboratory and at the University of Michigan Canton Health Center. I have also worked at the Ann Arbor VA up to 2015. At Canton I see patients with complex infections and complex diagnostic problems. Previously I was the director of Center for AIDS Research and Treatment at North Shore University Hospital (NSUH) (8 years), Manhasset, NY before coming to the U of M, There I participated in the discovery of HIV and Herpes virus 6. I also described new treatments for HTLV I leukemia and new syndromes produced by the HTLV II virus. I also directed clinical trials of many of the early HIV drugs such as Viracept, Sustiva, Saquinavir and Kaletra. My major expertise was in care of patients with HIV, difficult diagnostic problems and infectious neurological illnesses. Having founded and directed the Jane and Dayton Brown Virology Laboratory at NSUH, I have a broad interest in viral infections and their management. I have also done research on Staphylococcus aureus, tuberculosis and cryptococcosis as well as written numerous papers on the cutaneous manifestations of infectious diseases.

Early in the AIDS epidemic I described the clinical presentations of this disease in children and the presentation of lymphoma in adults. As former Chief of Infectious Disease at Nassau County Medical Center (7 years), Mineola N.Y. and NSUH (16 years) I have broad experience in management of many complex infectious problems. I continue now doing research in trying to find a viral cause for HIV associated lymphoma. This work has led me into studies of the endogenous retroviruses HERV K (HML-2) to understand their role in lymphoma in general. I am also engaged in research to find the cause of sarcoidosis in concert with Drs. Mika Popovic at the Institute of Human Virology (IHV), University of Maryland. I am also currently studying centromere biology as it relates to scleroderma and the role of the new endogenous retrovirus Xq21.33 in breast cancer. I also serve on the scientific advisory board as well as on its Board of Advisors of the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, Baltimore MD.