Dr. Fries is Professor of Medicine and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and Chief of the Infectious Disease Division at Stony Brook University. She is an ASM member, a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and served as a standing member on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) study section for AIDS-Associated Opportunistic Infections and Cancer. She has received continuous extramural grant support, including from the NIH. The focus of her research is in 2 areas: the pathogenesis of chronic infection by the fungal pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans; and the development of anti-infective antibodies. She has contributed new knowledge and advanced our understanding of the host response to chronic C. neoformans infection and the molecular mechanisms that allow the fungus to change based on the host response. She has also developed neutralizing antibodies against staphylococcal enterotoxin B and K (SEB, SEK) and antibodies that bind the polysaccharide capsule of carbapenem resistant Klebsiella strains, including those with a hypermucoid capsule type. She has published over 85 original scientific manuscripts and review articles, along with several book chapters. She is actively engaged in teaching students, residents and fellows, and is a regularly invited meeting organizer and speaker at national and international conferences.