The American Health Council has cordially appointed Walter Storkus, PhD., as “Best in Medicine.” Working in the healthcare industry for over 25 years, Dr. Storkus is an expert in the field of Cancer Research, Dermatology and Immunology.

Dr. Storkus’ passion for the medical profession came from his natural ability to solve problems. Having completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Biochemistry in 1981 at Brandeis University, he furthered his studies by attaining a PhD in Immunology and Microbiology in 1986 at Duke University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology at Duke University completed in 1991.

Dr. Storkus was recruited to the University of Pittsburgh in 1991 and has been serving in his current role as Professor of Dermatology and Immunology since 2001. The Department of Immunology aims to discover new mechanisms and pathways of the immune system to enrich human health by combating and preventing disease, enhancing vaccination, and controlling autoimmunity. The department has a mission to train students, post-doctoral fellows, physicians and other young scientists to become experts in immunology.
Dr. Storkus feels incredibly fortunate that his role in education enables him to train future medical professionals and academicians. On a daily basis, he is a lab leader whilst training high school students, graduate students, medical students and postdoctoral fellows. His role requires excellent decision making and management of research projects, the construction of research reports and the development of grant proposals.

Throughout the course of his impressive career, Dr. Storkus has been successful in receiving continuous extramural NIH grant support since 1994. He has also received the Outstanding Faculty Award from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 for innovations in research, for which he is extremely proud.
To broaden his knowledge in his field, Dr. Storkus remains a part of numerous professional associations. These include the American Association of Immunology, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer and the American Association for Cancer Research.

Away from work, Dr. Storkus spends his time helping charitable academic organisations including the Melanoma Research Foundation. He also enjoys drawing, painting and participating in sports in his free time.