Vilcek Foundation

Jan T. Vilcek , M.D., Ph.D.

President and Cofounder, The Vilcek Foundation

Dr. Jan T. Vilcek, Professor of Microbiology at New York University School of Medicine in New York City, was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), where he also received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. In 1964 he and his wife, Marica, an art historian, defected from what was then communist Czechoslovakia.  Upon immigrating to the United States in 1965, Dr. Vilcek joined the faculty of NYU School of Medicine.

Dr. Vilcek has devoted his entire career to the study of cytokines – hormone-like proteins produced in the body that control defenses against infections and tumors. He is among the earliest researchers of interferon, the first-identified immune system protein. More recently, Dr. Vilcek has turned his interest to another cytokine, called tumor necrosis factor (TNF). TNF plays a role in the body's defense against infections but, when produced in excess, it can be harmful, especially during chronic inflammatory processes when the immune system turns against the body's own organs. When excessive TNF production initiates and sustains a destructive chronic inflammation, blocking TNF action can be beneficial to the patient, because it reduces inflammation and the resulting tissue damage.

Dr. Vilcek's contributions to the understanding of proteins that control the body's defenses against infections and tumors were instrumental in the development of the anti-inflammatory drug Remicade® or infliximab, used for the treatment of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and some other chronic inflammatory disorders.

In the 1980s, Dr. Vilcek and his colleague at NYU, Junming Le, generated an antibody that inactivates TNF. In collaboration with the biotechnology company Centocor Inc. (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) they used this antibody to develop a drug that has become known as Remicade®. Following extensive laboratory and clinical testing, the federal Food and Drug Administration approved Remicade® in 1998 for the treatment of Crohn's disease, and later for rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. To date, well over 1 million patients have been treated with Remicade® in the US and abroad. The success of anti-TNF therapy exemplifies how basic research in a university setting can lead to important therapeutic advances.

Dr. Vilcek has published 350 papers in scholarly journals and served on editorial boards of numerous professional publications.  He holds 38 US patents, has served on many national and international committees and has received numerous honors.

New York University awarded Dr. Vilcek the Albert Gallatin Medal in 2005.  The Gallatin Medal is the University's highest honor, and is bestowed for outstanding contributions to society.

In 2000 Dr. Vilcek and his wife established The Vilcek Foundation, whose main mission is to honor and publicize the enormous contributions immigrants have made to biomedical science and the arts in the United States.