He was also executive dean for academic programs at Harvard Medical School and director of the Channing Laboratory Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
His primary focus is on immunochemistry alongside the genetics of bacteria and their role in virulence – research that has concentrated on topics related to bacterial polysaccharides and glycolipids.
[2] Kasper is also known as editor (alongside Anthony Fauci, Stephen L. Hauser and others) of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine – a book widely used by medical schools and practicing physicians.
[6] He was also the scientific director at the New England Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases at Harvard Medical School until 2014.
Kasper's key research has included the identification of immunomodulatory molecules from the microbiome, and exploration of how these are used to treat immune-mediated diseases.
Kasper's research in the space of sphingolipids led his group to discover B. fragilis glycosphingolipids, which modulate natural killer T cell mediated inflammation in the colon; this alongside the polysaccharide A work were the first immunomodulatory molecules identified from the microbiome.