Zuhair Ballas is a Professor of Medicine. He did his fellowship training at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington. He has been actively engaged in Immunology research for over four decades. His focus has been on studying the role of natural killer (NK cells) in health and disease with focus on their role in tumor surveillance, inflammatory disorders and immunodeficiency. He has also done some of the seminal studies on the lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAK). he has been engaged in examining the effect of CpG oligodeoxynucleotides on NK cell activation in vivo and in vitro using humans and mouse models. More recently, he has focused on the risks and benefits of biologics in patients with emphasis on the importance of the compartmentalization of the immune response. He is also an active physician who cares for patients with complex inflammatory and immune dysfunction disorders. A most recent clinical focus is on the autoimmune complications of checkpoint inhibitor cancer immunotherapy. He established and continues to direct the Diagnostic immunology laboratory and is in charge of the U of I Flow Cytometry Core Facility.