Featured
University of California, USA
Tilahun Yilma is the Founding Director of the International Laboratory of Molecular Biology (ILMB) and has been with UC Davis since 1986. Yilma is noted for developing what the journal Nature described as one of the two outstanding vaccinia virus recombinant vaccines for rinderpest. He has also developed methods for enhancing the safety and efficacy of recombinant vaccines with the use of cytokines as attenuating and adjuvant genes. Yilma has received many honors including the Ciba-Geigy Award, the highest international award in animal science, and the UC Davis Faculty Research Award (Highest Research Award). Yilma is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Yilma has served on the Council of the NIH-NCRR, Member of the NSF Advisory Committee, Office of International Science and Engineering, and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Center for Bio-Security Science, Los Alamos National Lab. Others membership include: Board of Agriculture & Natural Resources of the NAS; Council of NIH-NCRR; Board on International Scientific Organizations (BISO), National Academies; Board of Committee on Human Rights of the National Academies; Chair, Section 61 of NAS; International Advisory Board of the International Conference on Genomics (ICG); International Consultant Committee for Global Public Health (ICCGPH) of China CDC. Yilma has worked as a consultant for the WHO, FAO, OIE, AU, and was senior advisor to the Deputy Director of the IAEA. He has also worked with a number of governments in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.