Charles Cunningham

Dr. Cunningham is an accomplished scientist and a dedicated long-term public servant. He first joined the Foundation as a rotating program director in 2015 in MCB and became a permanent program director in 2017. He received his Bachelor of Science in Cell Biology from the University of Glasgow and Doctor of Philosophy in Immunology from the University of Aberdeen. Dr. Cunningham was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, and the Scotgen Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Aberdeen. Prior to joining NSF, he was a faculty member in the Department of Biology and member of the Center for Evolutionary and Theoretical Immunology at the University of New Mexico. He is currently an adjunct faculty member at the City College of New York. 

Dr. Cunningham has published broadly in the field of immunology and has previously served as the president of the International Society for Developmental and Comparative Immunology. While at NSF, Dr. Cunningham has led several activities including the Synthetic Cell Ideas Lab associated with Understanding the Rules of Life, and Integrative Research in Biology.