Dr. Kenneth Beaman received his Bachelors Degree in 1975 from Colorado State University. He was a fellow in the Clinical Microbiology Lab at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation from 1975 to 1978. He received his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University in Microbiology and Immunology in 1982. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology at Yale from 1982 to 1985. During his fellowship at Yale University he was a member of the transplantation laboratory. His research interests are in clinical immunology and in immune suppression, particularly during pregnancy. In 1985, he joined the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Chicago Medical School. He founded the Clinical Immunology Laboratory at the Chicago Medical School in 1987. The Clinical Immunology Laboratory supports a variety of autoimmune/rheumatology testing but primarily is interested in diagnostic tests pertaining to the immunology of pregnancy. Dr. Beaman is a fellow of the American Association of Medical Laboratory Immunologists and a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Laboratory Immunology. The Clinical Immunology Laboratory is one of two laboratories in the United States certified by the Committee on Postdoctoral Educational Program (CPEP) approved postdoctoral training in Clinical Immunology that is accredited by the American Society of Microbiology. He is on the council of several national and international societies of both Reproductive and Clinical Immunology. Dr. Beaman is the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology.

Research
Dr. Beaman's research interests concern the control of the immune response. In particular his current work involves cloning of the genes responsible for suppression of the immune system. These genes are responsible for the prevention of graft rejection during transplantation and autoimmunity. Malfunctions of this gene complex may also lead to tumor metastases and infertility. Currently his major research effort is in two main areas: (1) molecular characterizations of fetal specific immune suppression during pregnancy (2) immunal detection and therapy of ovarian cancer. Understanding the molecular mechanisms which regulate the immune response is the key which links these two primary research areas. Initial experiments have shown that the gene(s) responsible for antigen specific suppression of the response code for proteins which protect the fetus during embryonic development and block immunal responses to tumors.

Selected Publications
Jane H. Wang, Xin Zheng, Xiaogang Ke, M. Tevfik Dorak, Jingjing Shen, Basmattee Boodram, Maurice O'Gorman, Ronald Hershow,

Kenneth Beaman, Scott J. Cotler. Ethnic and geographical differences in HLA-gene controlled associations affect the outcome of hepatitis C virus infection. Tissue Antigens Virol J. 2009 May 1;6:46