Dr. Leibowitz did his MD and PhD in Cell Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he studied the assembly of adenoviruses. After residency training in pathology and a research fellowship in experimental neuropathology at UCSD studying the replication of neurotropic coronaviruses he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pathology at UCSD in 1979. He was recruited to the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in 1983 where he rose through the ranks to full professor. In 1995 he joined the Texas A&M College of Medicine. His research on coronaviruses is focused on RNA secondary structure and its role in viral replication and the genetic basis for differences in organ tropism and pathogenesis amongst various strains of the murine coronavirus.