Dr. Ibrahim is a Professor at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a Senior Investigator, Director of the Graduate Studies Program and Vice-Chair of BOD of The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovations at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (Lundquist Institute). He received his Ph.D degree in Microbial Physiology from Loughborough University of Technology, UK.
Dr. Ibrahim completed his Postdoctoral training in Infectious Diseases at The Lundquist Institute. His research focuses on molecular pathogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, and models of infections. His laboratory is internationally recognized as a leading group in mucormycosis research (commonely known as black fungus infection) in which they established genetic manipulation of Rhizopus (the most common cause of infection), developed clinically relevant animal models of infection and pioneered the discovery of novel therapies in treating the disease. He founded Vitalex Biosciences, a company that is currently developing antibody-based therapy and rapid diagnostics for this lethal fungal infection.
Dr. Ibrahim is also a leading figure in developing a vaccine that targets healthcare-related infections caused by multidrug-resistant such as Candida (including the emerging multidrug resistant C. auris) Acinetobacter and Klebsiella pneumonia. For his efforts in this field, Dr. Ibrahim was recently awarded a $5.5 million R01 grant to manufacture a dual antigen vaccine.
Dr. Ibrahim’s laboratory is instrumental in the preclinical development programs of several antibiotics/small molecules advanced by industry (e.g. Merck, Astellas Pharma, Gilead, Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Cidara and A6 Pharmaceuticals, etc.). These efforts range from development of antifungal agents, to targeting multidrug-resistant Gram-negative sepsis.
Dr. Ibrahim currently holds several NIH and industry-sponsored projects and has received over $27 M in funding for his research. He coauthored >170 peer-reviewed research papers, review articles and book chapters. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Microbiology and a receiver of several prestigious award for excellence in research. For the last 10 years, Dr. Ibrahim served on numerous NIH study sections as an Ad Hoc reviewer, and currently is a permanent member of the Drug Discovery and Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Resistance (DDR) study section.