Anne Wyllie, Ph.D.

Anne Wyllie, Ph.D.

University of Maryland

Anne Wyllie, Ph.D., is an associate research professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. Wyllie completed her B.S. in biomedical science and M.S. in medical science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. In 2013, she started her Ph.D. research at the UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands, developing and validating molecular surveillance of pneumococcal carriage in all ages. In 2017, she started her postdoctoral training under Daniel Weinberger, Ph.D., at the Yale School of Public Health and was promoted to associate research scientist in 2019 after receiving support to investigate the transmission dynamics of pneumococcus in the community setting.

In 2020, Wyllie joined Yale’s COVID-19 pandemic response efforts, through which she became principal investigator of her own research group; this saw her promotion to research scientist in 2021. Her lab has propelled the use of saliva as a high-quality, low-resource sample type to support sustainable diagnostic and surveillance efforts of respiratory pathogens and for exploring their (co-)infection dynamics. 

Wyllie’s innovations during the COVID-19 pandemic and commitment to open science have produced freely available PCR protocols, enabling laboratories to rapidly implement accessible testing and surveillance programs. She founded the SalivaDirect initiative in 2020, which included the SalivaDirect test and the designated laboratory network. The lab network and unique approach has been widely praised by the leaders in the diagnostic space, including the FDA. In 2024, SalivaDirect spun out of Yale as an independent non-profit organization, SalivaDirect Inc., dedicated to expanding these efforts globally.