Jolan Eszter Walter, MD, PhD

Dr. Walter is the division chief of the University of South Florida (USF) and Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital Pediatric Allergy & Immunology programs. She is the Robert A. Good Endowed Chair of the USF Division of Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, and an associate professor of pediatrics, medicine and molecular biology in the USF Morsani College of Medicine. She serves as director of the Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic and Research Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies at Johns Hopkins All Children’s. Her research interests include understanding the disease mechanisms of severe combined immunodeficiencies (SCID) and less severe variants of this disease (CID) as well as breech in tolerance in primary immune disorders (PID) leading to autoimmunity and inflammation. Dr. Walter has specific clinical expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with SCID/CID, in particular those with recombination activating gene (RAG) variants. She is focusing on genetic evaluation and mechanism-based treatment therapies for non-infectious complications, and involved in the care of patients with definitive therapies such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and gene therapy protocols.

Dr. Walter is an international expert in PID and immune dysregulation. Her research interest is to better understand diseases associated with the under and overactive immune system. The ultimate goal of her research and clinical care is to define strategies for the early detection of susceptible individuals and novel approaches for treatment reflecting precision medicine. Her studies in patients and animal models focus on immune dysregulation in combined immunodeficiencies (CID), which often manifest as autoimmune complications, and genetic diagnostic approaches for SCID and CID. Her studies on new treatments include working with pharmaceutical companies to evaluate medications that target specific biochemical pathways to counter immune dysregulation or replace immunoglobulins to compensate for immune deficiency. She is also collaborating with researchers in Israel to develop gene editing techniques that could potentially replace defective genes causing SCID and CID. Her research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, Jeffrey Modell Foundation, and institutional grants from Johns Hopkins All Children’s and USF. These funded studies address RAG defects, awareness for PID among patients with autoimmune cytopenias, and WHIM syndrome (a rare, chronic and life-threatening PID with warts, low immunoglobulins, infections and neutropenia).

Dr. Walter is the lead investigator for the first national genetic screening study to aid in the diagnosis of patients with WHIM syndrome. She has authored 130 peer-reviewed articles, has contributed to several book chapters on PID, and serves as a reviewer for top journals in the field. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) and serves on the organization’s PID committee. She has received numerous honors and awards from organizations including AAAAI, the Clinical Immunology Society, and the National Institutes of Health. She has contributed to the training of pediatricians and allergy/immunology specialists with the development of educational videos.

Dr. Walter earned her medical degree and Ph.D. at the University of Pecs Medical School in Hungary. She completed a research fellowship in infectious diseases at the Center for Pediatric Research at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, and a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk. She also completed a fellowship in pediatric & allergy immunology at Boston Children’s Hospital.