Ralph S. Baric

• Up one level
• Faculty profile and CV - Department of Epidemiology
• Faculty profile - Department of Microbiology
• Faculty profile - Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases
• National Academy of Sciences biosketch
  Elected Member in 2021, Primary Section: Section 44: Microbial Biology
• Awards
  • Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
    2022
  • 2021 Oliver Max Gardner Award
  • Wolfgang Joklik Plenary Lecturer, American Society for Virology
    2021
  • Joklik Distinguished Lecturer, Duke University
    2022
  • News and Observer Tarheel of the Year
    2021
  • Health Care Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award
    Triangle Business Journal, 2021
  • North Carolina Award 2020
    The state's highest civilian honor, the North Carolina Award was created by the General Assembly in 1961 to recognize significant contributions to the state and nation in the fields of fine arts, literature, public service and science.
  • National Academies of Sciences group member of the US China Scientific Dialogue on COVID 19
    2020
  • Innovation Award for Faculty Research
    2011
  • Established Investigator Award
    American Heart Association, 1989-1994
  • Harvey Weaver Scholar
    National Multiple Sclerosis Society
• Virologist accused of starting COVID-19 will fight U.S. ban on funding
  Jon Cohen, Science 12 May 2026;392(6800)
• A Chapel Hill Lab Faces New Threats Five Years After Covid-19
  Public health leaders looked to UNC-Chapel Hill virologist Ralph Baric to end the pandemic. Their critics blamed it on him. Now, the White House wants to slash funding for research like his. Matt Hartman, The Assembly, March 27, 2025
• Interview of Ralph S. Baric, PhD
  Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, U.S. House of Representatives, Monday, January 22, 2024 (212 pages)
• *TWiV 591: Coronavirus update with Ralph Baric (1 hr+)
  March 15, 2020 on This Week in Virology (TWiV)
  Ralph Baric joins TWiV to dissect the coronavirus pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, including discussion on community spread, asymptomatic infections, origin of the virus, transmission, vaccine development, and much more.
• An air-locked lab at UNC is leading research on cures for the coronavirus
  Zachery Eanes, News & Observer, March 7, 2020
  ... the outbreak of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has spread from China around the globe this year — has pushed researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill, specifically Dr. Ralph Baric, into the spotlight.
• Coronavirus drug shows promise at Carolina (2 min)
  March 19, 2020
  UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health researchers are testing a new broad-spectrum antiviral drug that could potentially be a relief to the global coronavirus pandemic.
• COVID-19 posts
  Mostly from 2020-2021
• Fluctuating funding and flagging interest hurt coronavirus research, leaving crucial knowledge gaps
  Helen Branswell and Megan Thielking, STAT, Feb. 10, 2020
  The waxing and waning interest in coronaviruses has perpetuated gaps in the scientific understanding of the pathogens. Scientists don’t know how long people remain immune to a coronavirus after being infected. There are still looming questions about transmission. There aren’t any drugs approved specifically to treat coronaviruses. Work begun to test existing drugs to see if they were effective against SARS was abandoned when that threat faded . . .
• Hear from top scientist who has spent 'years' working toward a cure for coronaviruses (5 min)
  MSNBC, The Beat with Ari
  A team of scientists at the University of North Carolina’s preeminent research lab, have been searching for a cure for coronaviruses, working in a "windowless air-locked laboratory in a secret location." World-renowned coronavirus expert Ralph Baric, professor at UNC’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology, joins Ari Melber on the search for a COVID-19 cure. Anne Rimoin, epidemiologist at UCLA, also discusses the groundbreaking clinical developments in the race to fight the global pandemic.
• Local expert explains coronavirus outbreak in southeast Asia as CDC confirms first US case (2:23)
  Ana Rivera, WTVD, January 21, 2020
• Peoples Pharmacy show 1211: A Conversation With the Coronavirus Hunter
  People's Pharmacy, WUNC, May 7, 2020. Rebroadcast May 25 on The State of Things, https://www.wunc.org/post/meet-coronavirus-hunter-ralph-baric
• Ralph Baric: On the Front Lines of Coronavirus for Three Decades
  Carolina Alumni Review, March 19, 2020
  Ralph Baric was finishing his postdoctoral work in microbiology in the early 1980s just as the HIV epidemic was emerging. That might have been a logical direction for his research, but something else caught his attention: Coronaviruses.
• The Coronavirus Hunter Is Racing for Answers in a Locked-Down Lab
  Robert Langreth, Bloomberg Businessweek, March 4, 2020
  The deadly coronavirus arrived by courier on Feb. 6, delivered to a windowless air-locked laboratory in a secret location on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
• Which Species Transmit COVID-19 to Humans? We’re Still Not Sure.
  Claire Jarvis, The Scientist, March 16, 2020
  Preliminary modeling studies provide a shortlist of potential coronavirus intermediate host species
• Wuhan Coronavirus In The US: How To Be Cautious Without Panicking (11 min)
  WUNC The State of Things, Grant Holub-Moorman and Frank Stasio, Jan 31, 2020
  Host Frank Stasio talks to Professor of Epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill Ralph Baric about the Wuhan coronavirus.