Kevin Urdahl MD/PhD

Kevin Urdahl MD/PhD
Assistant Professor
Email: click here
Phone: (206) 221-7183

Dr. Urdahl is an attending physician in infectious diseases and pediatrics at Seattle Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He earned his MD and his PhD in Microbiology/Immunology at the University of Minnesota. He completed both his pediatric residency and his infectious diseases fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington. Dr. Urdahl’s laboratory is applying recently developed immunologic tools to the study of tuberculosis in order to gain a better understanding of T lymphocyte-mediated mechanisms that promote protection against tuberculosis, and also mechanisms that suppress immunity and help facilitate persistence of the pathogen. The overall goal of this research is to identify strategies that could contribute to the development of an effective vaccine. Recently, his laboratory defined a role for a suppressive subset of T lymphocytes that dampens immunity and prevents the immune system from effectively eradicating the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. Dr. Urdahl is the recipient of a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biological Sciences.

Undergraduate
Concordia College, B.S., Chemistry, 1987

Medical School
University of Minnesota, M.D., Ph.D., 1995

Residency
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center/University of Washington, 1995-98

Fellowship
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center/University of Washington, 1999-2003

Koch MA, Tucker-Heard G, Perdue NR, Killebrew JR, Urdahl KB, Campbell DJ. 2008. T-bet controls regulatory T cell migration and expansion during type-1 inflammatory responses. Submitted.

Scott-Browne JP, Shafiani S, Tucker Heard G, Ishida-Tsubota K, Fontenot JD, Rudensky AY, Bevan MJ, and Urdahl KB. 2007. Expansion and function of Foxp3-expressing T regulatory cells during tuberculosis. J. Exp. Med. 204:2159-69.

Urdahl KB, Liggitt D, and Bevan MJ. 2003. CD8+ T cells accumulate in the lungs of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected Kb-/-Db-/- mice, but provide minimal protection. J Immunol, 170(4): 1987-94.

Urdahl KB, Sun JC, and Bevan MJ. 2002. Positive selection of MHC class Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells on hematopoietic cells. Nat Immunol 3:772-79.