Hans D. Ochs MD

Hans D. Ochs, MD, is attending physician at Seattle Children’s Hospital; and co-director of the Immunology Diagnostic Laboratory at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. He earned his MD summa cum laude from the University of Freiburg, Germany. He completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Washington.

The focus of his research is the molecular definition of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDD) and the investigation of new techniques to confirm the diagnosis. He and his collaborators contributed significantly to the identification of a number of genes associated with PIDD located on the X chromosome (CD40L, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein [WASP], FOXP3, gp91phox) or on autosomes (uracil-DNA glycosulase; Rag1, Rag2 hypomorphic mutations as the cause of Omenn syndrome, STAT3 responsible for AD-HIES). Ochs started the Immunodeficiency Clinic at Seattle Children’s in 1985, providing evaluation and care for both pediatric and adult patients with immunodeficiency disorders. He has initiated clinical trials for new immunoglobulin preparations for intravenous and subcutaneous infusions and has collaborated with the bone marrow transplant team in the design of new protocols for stem cell transplant and gene therapy. He was principal investigator for U.S. Immune Deficiency Network (USIDnet) and is co-founder and member of the summer school faculty devoted to primary immune deficiencies. He is principal editor for the medical textbook Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases: A Molecular and Genetic Approach and co-editor for Immunological Disorders in Infants and Children.