In Memoriam: Philip W. Askenase, MD

This obituary was prepared by Richard Bucala, MD, PhD; Insoo Kang, MD; and Christina Price, MD.

Philip W. Askenase, MD, professor of medicine (immunology) and pathology at Yale School of Medicine, passed away peacefully at home on March 12, 2026, with his daughters by his side. We remember his life and accomplishments with deep gratitude.

Phil was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1939 and completed his undergraduate education at Brown University, graduating magna cum laude in 1961. He then attended Yale School of Medicine, graduating cum laude. Following medical school, Phil began his clinical training as an intern and resident in medicine at Boston City Hospital, in the Harvard Medical Unit and the Thorndike Laboratory. In the mid-1960s, he trained as a clinical associate in the Arthritis and Rheumatism Section at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health (NIH), with John L. Decker, MD, and Edward J. Leonard, MD. He also pursued research training in the Kidney and Electrolyte Section of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the NIH. He was selected as a British American Heart Fellow of the American Heart Association and studied at London Hospital Medical College, in London, England, with Geoffrey L. Asherson, MD, from 1969 to 1970. He returned to Yale in 1970 as a postdoctoral trainee in inflammatory diseases under the mentorship of Fred S. Kantor, MD; Elisha Atkins, MD; Larry Friedman, MD; Stephen E. Malawista, MD; and Vince Andriole, MD. Through this clinical and research training, Phil established the lifelong focus of his work in allergic and immunologic diseases, particularly the mechanisms of immune hypersensitivity.

Phil was appointed assistant professor of medicine at Yale in 1971, and his clinical and research achievements led to his promotion to professor of medicine and pathology in 1982. He became chief of Clinical Immunology at Yale, a position he held from 1985 to 2011. Phil made seminal contributions to medical research, including temperature regulation in fever, Lyme disease, cellular and humoral mechanisms of delayed-type hypersensitivity, the role of B1 B cells, and defining the role of basophils in cutaneous hypersensitivity. He published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, Immunity, The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Phil’s scientific curiosity remained relentless throughout his career, reflected in his visiting professorships at the National Heart and Lung Institute and Imperial College School of Medicine in London, England; Hôpital Necker in Paris, France; the Curie Institute in Paris, France; and Stanford University School of Medicine. Indeed, he had a review article on extracellular vesicles, a topic of his recent research interest, published in 2025, when he was 85 years old. As a physician, Phil also made substantial contributions to clinical medicine. He was a founder of the Adult AIDS and HIV Clinic at Yale in 1985 and collaborated in the discovery of Lyme disease. In recognition of his achievements, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Distinguished Scientist Award in 2018.

Phil will be remembered for his scientific achievements and for his unwavering dedication to trainees in medicine and science.

Phil is predeceased by his wife, Marjorie, and survived by their daughters, Isabel and Hilary; sons-in-law, Jeremy Tordai and Cain Newman; and four grandchildren, Felix, Nathan, Everly, and Leo.