Wilbur Chen | Professor of Medicine
University of Maryland School of Medicine

Dr. Wilbur Chen is the Frank M. Calia, M.D. Endowed Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he is the Chief of the Division of Geographic Medicine and Director of the UMB Travel Medicine Practice. The Travel Medicine Practice is a not-for-profit travel clinic that is staffed by faculty members of the Center for Vaccine Development & Global Health (CVD), an organized research center in the School of Medicine.

His research is primarily focused on developing vaccines for enteric or diarrheal pathogens, infectious diseases chiefly of resource poor and economically disadvantaged countries and populations with poor access to clean water, hygiene, and sanitation. Dr. Chen is an active investigator within the NIAID-supported Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) network, composed of 10 academic centers throughout the U.S. His research involves human challenge models for numerous diarrheal pathogens, such as ETEC, cholera, Shigella, Campylobacter, norovirus, and Cryptosporidium. He also is leading studies on vaccines for typhoid and other invasive Salmonella and meningococcal disease in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Chen is the co-director of UMB Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (ICTR) K12 Faculty Development Program, director of the ICTR Studio Program, core member of intramural NIAID's Data and Safety Monitoring Board, and steering committee member of Defense Health Agency’s Military Infectious Disease Research Program. He was a voting member of CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices 2020-2024 and is currently a member of NFID’s Board of Directors (2025-28) and member of IDSA's Public Policy and Advocacy Committee.