Dr. Stephens joined the Department of Medicine faculty in 1982 and was named director of the Division of Infectious Diseases in 1992. He has led the development of successful programs in infectious diseases and microbial pathogenesis and has been a major contributor to the creation and development of the Emory Vaccine Center and the Emory Center for AIDS Research. He is principal investigator for Atlanta's Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), a multi-institutional research and clinical trials partnership funded this year by a five-year, $31 million NIH grant.

Dr. Stephens is professor of microbiology and immunology in the School of Medicine and professor of epidemiology at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health. He is chair of the Research Advisory Council in the WHSC and a member of the Agenda Committee on the WHSC Leadership Team.

After receiving his MD degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Dr. Stephens conducted research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He completed his clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases and a research fellowship in microbial pathogenesis at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
His laboratory is an international leader in efforts to define the molecular basis for virulence and vaccines to prevent bacterial meningitis. He has contributed more than 225 publications in infectious diseases, molecular pathogenesis, epidemiology and immunology.

Dr. Stephens is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and has served on NIH, Veterans Affairs, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review panels. He was chair of the FDA National Vaccine Advisory Committee and a liaison member of the Health and Human Services National Vaccine Advisory Committee and a Senior Scientific Consultant to the Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch at CDC.

In 1988 Dr. Stephens co-founded the Atlanta Active Surveillance Project (now the Georgia Emerging Infections Programs), a population-based surveillance and clinical research program. In 2001 he led CDC's clinical emergency response team in defining clinical issues in prophylaxis, diagnosis and treatment of B. anthracis infections.

Dr. Stephens has served as the site principal investigator for the NIH-sponsored Southeastern Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense, the CDC-supported Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats, and the NIH-funded Exploratory Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Vaccinology. He founded and directed the Emory University NIH K30 Clinical Research Curriculum Award and served as the interim chair and executive vice chair of the Department of Medicine in Emory School of Medicine.

The infectious diseases program he directs has graduated more than 100 fellows, and his laboratory has trained more than 50 infectious diseases fellows, postdoctoral fellows, medical students and undergraduates in bacterial pathogenesis. He has served as the thesis advisor for five PhD or MS degree candidates and has served on 17 PhD graduate committees in microbiology and molecular genetics.