Charles B. Cairns, MD

Dr. Cairns is the Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean of the College of Medicine and senior vice president for medical affairs at Drexel University. Dr. Cairns is a leader in emergency medicine and critical care education, training, and research. He has previously served as dean of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at the United Arab Emirates University and dean of the College of Medicine and assistant vice president for clinical research at the University of Arizona. Dr. Cairns has also been chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina, associate chief of emergency medicine at Duke University, and director of emergency medicine research at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Dr. Cairns has served as director of the National Institutes of Health United States Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group and as principal investigator of the Department of Homeland Security National Collaborative for Biopreparedness. He has led COVID-19 research and innovation efforts to understand the acute and longitudinal immune response to severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, including serving as clinical lead for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases COVID-19 Immunophenotyping (IMPACC) study, as a member of the Data and Safety Monitoring Board for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convalescent plasma study, and as principal investigator of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation project on predicting COVID-19 community infection and recovery.

Dr. Cairns is an honors graduate of Dartmouth College and earned his medical degree from the University of North Carolina. He completed his residency in emergency medicine and fellowship in cardiovascular research at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

His research interests include critical care, emergency medicine, and COVID-19, with over 200 published scientific articles and more than $40 million in research funding. Dr. Cairns has received multiple honors, including the Outstanding Contribution in Research Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians, the Established Investigator Award from the Emergency Medicine Foundation, and the John Marx Leadership Award from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.