menu
menu

Our History

The division has a long history of bringing together outstanding physicians and researchers who are cited for their national and international contributions to the field.  The Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins was founded by Dr. Ivan Bennett in 1958.  Since its inception, the division has established a community where innovative approaches are developed in training, research, and clinical care.  The outcome has been decades of scientific breakthroughs, leaders in the field, and top rated clinical care.

The tradition of excellence in research, training, and clinical care has been continued by each successive division chief below:

Ivan L. Bennett, Jr., MD

1956-1958: Ivan L. Bennett, Jr., a quintessential physician-scientist, assumed leadership of Johns Hopkins Pathology in 1958 having made substantial contributions to the understanding of how infectious agents interact with host defense systems to produce fever and septic shock. Dr. Bennett began to integrate veterinary pathology into the Department, recognizing its key role in the understanding of models of disease. Under Dr. Bennett, the Department became more outward-looking, expanding through diversification of research funding sources and recruitment of outstanding individuals from across the United States and abroad.

Leighton E. Cluff, MD

1958-1966: Leighton E Cluff was a native of Salt Lake City, Utah and received his BA from the University of Utah in 1944 with a major in biology. He then enrolled as a medical  student at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. While a medical student at George Washington University, he participated in a fellowship in pathology at Gallinger Municipal Hospital (later D.C. General Hospital). Lee considered this experience pivotal in his career.

Charles Carpenter, MD

1966-1969: Charles Carpenter was involved in the care of persons living with HIV beginning in 1982. He served as the site Director of the longitudinal CDC-supported HIV Epidemiology Research Study (HERS) from 1992-1999, and was Principal Investigator of the CDC-supported SUN Study of the Natural History of HIV/AIDS in the era of effective antiretroviral therapy. Dr. Carpenter served as a founding member of the Executive Committee of the Brown University Fogarty AITRP Program, participated in the training of Fogarty fellows from each of the participating sites, and conducted research in Chennai, India. He was Director of the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research and Chair of the Treatment Subcommittee of the Congressionally mandated NAS/IOM Committee to evaluate the President’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

William B. Greenough, III, MD

1970-1976: William B. Greenough, III, an international expert in infectious disease and a member of the Division of Geriatric Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has been a co-investigator on the Hospital at Home project since its inception. He has been an active member of the clinical investigation from the outset, participating in decisions on which diseases to treat, criteria for admission to the program, and methods to track clinical outcomes. During the pilot phase of Hospital at Home, Dr. Greenough joined Drs. Leff and Burton in providing in-the-home care for patients admitted to the program.

John G. Bartlett, MD

1980-2006: John G Bartlett, MD received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth University in 1959 and earned his medical degree at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York in 1963. He then completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the Brigham Hospital in Boston and the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Dr. Bartlett also completed fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at UCLA and at the Wadsworth Veterans Administration Hospital. In 1970, he joined the faculty at UCLA. He later moved to the faculty of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, where he served as associate chief of staff for research at the Boston VA Hospital.

David Thomas, MD, MPH

2006-2022: Dr. David Thomas is Stanhope Bayne-Jones Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and of Epidemiology in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. He also serves as co-director of the Center for AIDS Research Clinical Core. Dr. Thomas earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry and his medical degree from West Virginia University. He completed medical training and residency at Wake Forest University in North Carolina before comingto Johns Hopkins as a research fellow in infectious diseases. He joined the faculty of the School of Medicine in 1993 and the School of Public Health in 1994. Dr. Thomas has received numerous awards and honors for his work in advancing care for people living with hepatitis C and HIV.

Amita Gupta, MD, MHS, is pictured from the shoulders up. She is wearing a bright pink blouse, a black sports jacket, and is posing in front of a blue background. She is smiling.

Amita Gupta, MD, MHS

2022-Present: Dr. Amita Gupta is Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Professor of International Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also Faculty Co-Chair of the Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute. Dr. Gupta specializes in international public health, clinical research, and education in infectious diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), maternal health, and antimicrobial resistant infections. Since 2003, her work has been focused primarily on India, where she leads several Indo-JHU research collaborations. Dr. Gupta received an undergraduate degree from MIT, a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard Medical School, and a Master of Health Sciences in clinical investigation from JH Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed her internal medicine training at San Francisco General Hospital-University of California, San Francisco, followed by a post-doctoral fellowships with the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases) and at the JHU School of Medicine (Infectious Diseases).