Ying Zhang, MD, PhD

February 3, 2017

Dr. Ying Zhang is a renowned professor at the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. His research interests are focused on antibiotic resistance, bacterial persistence, and development of more effective treatments for persistent infections. Although much of his career is on M. tuberculosis, recently, he has been working on the challenging problem of persistent Lyme disease.

His group developed a new high throughput assay which allowed identification of a range of FDA-approved drugs that have excellent activity against Borrelia burgdorferi persisters. This finding has generated considerable interest and may offer new opportunity to improve treatment of persistent Lyme. In collaboration with colleagues, he is interested in evaluating the promising candidate drugs in combinations in animal models and also in patients for more effective treatment of Lyme disease.

Dr. Ying Zhang, M.D. recently presented to the membership of the National Capital Lyme Disease Association and the public-at-large at Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC. His informative presentation titled, “Drugs Targeting Borrelia Persisters: Implications for Improved Treatment of Persistent Lyme Disease,” was well received by the audience.

- Ying Zhang, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health