Vanessa Sperandio, Ph.D., is Chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Robert Turell Professor in infectious diseases at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previously, she was the Jane and Bud Smith Distinguished Chair in Medicine and professor in UT Southwestern Departments of Microbiology and Biochemistry. She received her bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. at UNICAMP in Brazil and did her post-doctoral training at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. 

Sperandio was a Latin-American Pew fellow in biomedical sciences, an Ellison Foundation New Scholar and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases. She has been a National Academy Kavli Frontiers of Science fellow since 2007. She served on the national advisory committee of the Pew Latin-American Fellows Program and Projeto Serrapilheira in Brazil. She served on the advisory committee for the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Investigators in the Pathogenesis-of-Infectious Diseases. 

She has served as Chair of ASM Press, Chair of ASM's Division D, member of the ASM Education Awards Committee and member and Chair of the ASM Microbe Program Committee HMB-track. She currently serves on the editorial boards of mBio and Infection and Immunity and recently served on the Journal of Bacteriology editorial board (term ended in 2024). 

In 2013, Sperandio was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) and is currently serving as Chair of the AAM Academy Governors. She received the 2015 ASM Eli-Lilly and Company-Elanco Research Award and was a winner of the GSK- Discovery-Fast-track challenge in 2014. She was elected as an American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) fellow in 2022.

Sperandio’s research investigates chemical, stress and nutritional signaling at the interface among the mammalian host, beneficial microbiota and invading bacterial pathogens. The main tenet of her research is the study of how bacterial cells sense several mammalian neurotransmitters leading to rewiring and reprogramming of bacterial transcription toward host and niche adaptation. She has also identified several bacterial receptors to mammalian neurotransmitters and reported that pathogens hijack these interkingdom signaling systems to promote virulence expression. She also translated these basic science concepts into strategies to develop novel approaches to antimicrobial therapy. 

Deborah Bell-Pedersen, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor of biology at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on determining how the microbial circadian clock controls daily rhythms in gene expression, critical to an organism’s fitness and health.

Bell-Pedersen received her M.S. and Ph.D. in molecular biology from the State University of New York at Albany working with Marlene Belfort, where she aided in the discovery of mobile group I introns in bacteriophage T4. Following postdoctoral studies at Dartmouth Medical School working with Jay Dunlap and Jennifer Loros on the Neurospora crassa circadian clock, she joined the biology faculty at Texas A&M University. Her group’s research is currently focused on determining the mechanisms by which the N. crassa circadian clock regulates mRNA translation and translation fidelity, and the impacts of this regulation on health.

Bell-Pedersen serves as the director for the Center for Biological Clocks Research at Texas A&M University and has served on the boards of the Fungal Genetics Society and the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms as well as several journal editorial boards. Her work has been recognized with several awards, including the Jo Ann Treat Award for Excellence in Research, TAMU University Women Former Students’ Network Eminent Scholar Award and the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Research and she was granted the honorary title of University Professor. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.

Christopher Rensing, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor and Director of the Institute of Environmental Microbiology in the College of Resource and Environment at Fujian Agriculture & Forestry University in Fuzhou, China. His research examines metal-microbe interaction with both an environmental and a medical focus. Other research areas include electromicrobiology and bioremediation. 

Rensing received his Ph.D. from the Free University Berlin. Thereafter, he was a postdoc with Barry Rosen at Wayne State University Medical School, after which he held several faculty positions, including The University of Arizona, Copenhagen University and his present position at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. 

Rensing is editor in chief of BioMetals, associate editor of Science of the Total Environment and Frontiers in Microbiology and served on several editorial boards including Applied and Environmental Microbiology. He has been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology and has been awarded the Fujian Friendship Award, Fujian 100 Talents and Yunnan 1000 Talents. 

Karen C. Carroll, M.D., is a professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on design, evaluation and implementation of novel diagnostics to detect bacterial pathogens responsible for healthcare associated infections (e.g. MRSA and C. difficile) and bloodstream infections. She is also interested in diagnostic stewardship. Carroll serves as the Director of the Division of Medical Microbiology and the Co-Director of the bacteriology section of the JHH microbiology laboratory. She is also the Director of the ACGME Fellowship Program in Medical Microbiology and she is a contributing faculty member to the CPEP Medical Microbiology Fellowship Program.
 
Carroll received her M.D. degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and she trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases and medical microbiology. She has served on many committees for the American Society for Microbiology including Chair of Division C and the Board of Directors. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the American Society for Microbiology BD award for excellence in clinical microbiology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America Kass Award and named lecture and the Illinois Society for Microbiology Pasteur Award.
 

Sean Crosson, Ph.D, is a professor of microbiology, genetics, and immunology at Michigan State University. He studies mechanisms by which bacteria adapt to diverse environments, including freshwater, soil and the interior of mammalian cells. 

Crosson received his B.A. in biology from Earlham College, his Ph.D. in molecular biophysics from the University of Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. Prior to joining the faculty of Michigan State in 2019, he was professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and of microbiology at the University of Chicago.

His research primarily focuses on the physiology of Alphaproteobacteria, including mammalian pathogens of the genus Brucella and the freshwater/soil bacterium Caulobacter crescentus. He also collaborates with clinicians and ecologists on studies of Bacteroides fragilis and other bacteria that reside in the human gut. This work is aimed at understanding the contribution of these microbes to inflammatory bowel diseases. 

Crosson is section Editor for Microbial Genetics at PLoS Genetics and serves on the editorial board and advisory board of the Journal of Bacteriology and Molecular Microbiology. He served on the ASM Council on Microbial Sciences from 2017-2021, was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology in 2017 and is currently an ASM Distinguished Lecturer. 

Suzanne M.J. Fleiszig, O.D., Ph.D., is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She received a Doctor of Optometry degree and Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Melbourne. She completed her postdoctoral training in Infectious Disease at Harvard Medical School.
 
At UC Berkeley, Dr. Fleiszig holds appointments in Vision Science, Infectious Diseases & Immunity, Microbiology, and the School of Optometry. She studies microbe-host interactions using the eye as a model and key intrinsic defenses protecting epithelial surfaces in vivo against infection, conditions enabling susceptibility, and how the opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa colonizes epithelial surfaces.

Fleiszig is the current Chair of COMS. Previously she served ASM as Chair of Division D, an At-Large Division Councilor, an Interdisciplinary Councilor, and co-chaired the HMB community retreat. She serves on the editorial boards of Infection & Immunity, PLOS One, Frontiers in Cellular & Infection Microbiology, and PeerJ, and is a standing member of NIH’s Bacterial Pathogenesis (BACP) study section. She has also served as President of the International Society for Contact Lens Research, Vice-President of TFOS (ocular surface society), Chair of the Immunology & Microbiology Section for the Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology, and Chair of the Corneal Biology Gordon Research Conference.

With a background in ecology and evolutionary biology, Jay Lennon, Ph.D., became interested in the microbial world from a desire to understand how small-scale microbial processes influence ecosystem phenomena, such as the flux of energy through food webs. Towards the end of his Ph.D. at Dartmouth College, he was introduced to tools and theory in the microbial diversity course at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) before conducting his postdoc at Brown University. He studied host-phage coevolution and its effects on nutrient cycling. Following this, he was an assistant professor at Michigan State University while in residence at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, before moving to the Department of Biology at Indiana University, where his laboratory focuses on the ecological and evolutionary processes that generate and maintain biodiversity in a range of ecosystems.

His laboratory has been supported by the USDA, NASA, NSF and DoD. In the classroom, he teaches an undergraduate course in "Microbiomes: Environmental and Human Health" and a graduate-level course in "Quantitative Biodiversity," which emphasizes basic coding, reproducible science, data visualization and multivariate statistics.

In addition to being a Kavli Fellow, he was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM). He currently serves as a governor for the AAM (2020-2026). He is the Inaugural Chair of the ASM Applied and Environmental Microbiology Unit, where he will work closely with the AEM Scientific Director and  Scientific Advisory Council (yet to be selected) to drive research and impact in sustainability and applied microbiology.

Melissa Miller, Ph.D., D(ABMM), FAAM, is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She is also the Director of the Clinical Microbiology and Molecular Microbiology Laboratories for UNC Medical Center.

Miller received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from Princeton University and completed the medical and public health microbiology fellowship at UNC hospitals. She is the Chair of the American Society for Microbiology Clinical and Public Health Microbiology Committee, a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and an Editor for the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Miller’s research interests include the development of accurate and cost-effective molecular tests for viral infections and the assessment of patient and healthcare outcomes associated with the implementation of new molecular technologies. She received the 2021 ASM Award for Research and Leadership in Clinical Microbiology and was a co-recipient of the 2021 ASM Special Recognition Award for leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Miller is also the recipient of the N.C. Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service, which is the highest honor a state employee can receive for dedicated service to the state and its citizens.

Michael J. Imperiale, Ph.D., is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on interactions between BK polyomavirus and human host cells that determine viral persistence and replication. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Columbia University, and completed postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University before joining the University of Michigan faculty.
 
In addition to his research, Imperiale has been engaged in science policy discussions centering around biosafety, biosecurity and biodefense. He is the founding Editor in Chief of mSphere.

Imperiale has been recognized with numerous honors, including being a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award and Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Susan E. Sharp received her B.S. in Medical Technology and her M.S. in Medical Microbiology & Biochemistry from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.  Her post-doctorate fellowship was at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn. She served as the director of microbiology at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach and at Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Ore. She is currently the Scientific Director for Copan Diagnostics and an assistant professor at Florida International University in Miami. 
 
Sharp has been a clinical microbiologist for over 30 years, is actively involved with the American Society for Microbiology, leading the Committee for Laboratory Practices for 9 years and serving as ASM president in 2016-2017. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Microbiology and served as Vice-Chair of that board for 6 years. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology. She was selected as the 2012 bioMerieux Sonnenwirth laureate, the highest award given by ASM for leadership in Clinical Microbiology and recognized by her peers in receiving the 2017 ABMM award. Sharp serves as a member of the Board (2022) and a member of the Expert Panel for the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and is a past member of the Board of Scientific Councilors for the Office of Infectious Diseases at the CDC. She has lectured both nationally and internationally and has published numerous scientific articles and book chapters in the field of clinical microbiology.

Dr. Alfredo Torres is the Herman Barnett Distinguished Professor in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is member of the ASM Education Board, Chair of the ASM Subcommittee for Minority Education and a presenter in the ASM Grant Writing webinar series.

Paul Turner, Ph.D., is the Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) at Yale University, and microbiology faculty member at Yale School of Medicine. He obtained a B.A. in biology (1988) from the University of Rochester in New York, a Ph.D. in microbial evolution (1995) from Michigan State University and did postdocs at National Institutes of Health, University of Valencia in Spain and University of Maryland-College Park, before joining Yale in 2001.

Turner previously served as Director of Graduate Studies and Chair of the Yale EEB department and as Interim Dean of Science at Yale. He currently serves as Director of the Center for Phage Biology and Therapy at Yale and also directs Yale’s Quantitative Biology Institute.

Turner studies evolutionary genetics of viruses, particularly phages (bacteria-specific viruses) that infect bacterial pathogens and RNA viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, and researches the use of phages to treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial diseases. He is very active in science communication outreach to the general public and is involved in the Yale National Initiative where faculty collaborate with K-12 teachers to improve STEMM education in underserved public schools.

Turner’s current service includes the National Science Foundation’s Bio Advisory Committee and the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. He also serves as President of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health. Turner’s honors include fellowships in the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts & Sciences and American Academy of Microbiology. 

Dr. Henry N. Williams is a professor in the School of the Environmental (SOE) at Florida A&M University. He earned his master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the B.S. degree from North Carolina A&T. Previous positions include professor and Assistant Vice President for Research at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and at Morgan State University, and Director of the Environmental Sciences Institute (now the SOE) at Florida A&M University.

His service includes the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Congressional Science Fellow, the NSF Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering and grant review panels at the NSF and the NIH. For his work mentoring and training students, Williams was recipient of the ASM 2003 William A. Hinton Award and the Minority Access, Inc. "Role Model of the Year Award." He is an internationally recognized leader in research on the predatory bacteria, Bdellovibrio and like organisms, and the microbiological quality of dental unit water supply. Several of Williams’ 70 papers have been cited as landmark contributions. By invitation, he has authored 3 chapters in the second edition of Bergey’s Manuel of Systematic Bacteriology (2005). Williams has organized, convened and presented at scientific sessions at ASM meetings, the International Symposium of Microbial Ecology, the American Society for Limnology and Oceanography, Argentinian Society of Microbiology and other organizations. Williams holds fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2016, he was selected an ASM Distinguished Lecturer.  Williams has been awarded numerous grants from government and private sources. 

Blossom Damania, Ph.D. is the Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill and also serves as the Vice Dean for Research in the UNC School of Medicine. Her research focuses on how viruses are detected by the immune system and how they evade host immunity. She studies how human tumor viruses cause cancer and investigates novel therapeutics to treat these virus-associated cancers. Damania co-founded the global viral oncology program at UNC-Chapel Hill Lineberger Cancer Center to address the increasing disparities in treatment of infection-associated cancers in low- and middle-income countries.
 
Damania received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School prior to joining UNC-Chapel Hill. Damania has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator award in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease, the American Association for Cancer Research Gertrude Elion Scholar award, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar award, the V Founder Cancer Research award and the Society for Leukocyte Biology Dolph O. Adams Award.
 
Damania is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, American Academy of Arts & Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. Damania also serves on multiple national and international scientific advisory boards.
 

Oladele Ogunseitan, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor and University of California Presidential Chair at Irvine. He serves as Co-Director of the World Institute for Sustainable Development of Materials, and he directs the Center of Education for the University of California Global Health Institute. Ogunseitan earned his doctorate in microbiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he discovered transducing bacteriophage in natural environments.

Subsequently, he earned a Master of Public Health degree at UC Berkeley, where he focused on environmental and international health. He was a Jefferson Science Fellow of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and he received a meritorious honor award from the U.S. Department of State for exceptional teamwork and contributions to the successful achievement of U.S. goals at the third United Nations Environment Assembly. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of Collegium Ramazzini.

Gary W. Procop, M.D., M.S., M.Ed., is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Board of Pathology and a staff member at Moffitt Cancer Center. Most of his career was at the Cleveland Clinic, where he held several leadership positions, and remains a consulting staff and a professor of pathology.  

Procop completed a Bachelor of Science at Eastern Michigan University, followed by an M.D. and M.S. at Marshall University School of Medicine. Residency training in anatomic and clinical pathology training was completed at Duke University Medical Center, followed by a Clinical Microbiology Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. He recently completed a M.Ed from Johns Hopkins University. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Pathology in anatomic and clinical pathology and medical microbiology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the College of American Pathologists, the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Procop has given more than 750 presentations, and has 251 published manuscripts, 57 chapters and 5 books to his credit.

Procop is President-Elect of Board of Directors of the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute and past Chair of the Antifungal Subcommittee of that organization. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Medical Specialties, and has held leadership positions in several other national pathology and microbiology organizations.

Dr. Rita Tamayo completed her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and conducted her postdoctoral research at Tufts University School of Medicine. She is Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine and a UNC Simmons Scholar. Tamayo’s lab studies the regulatory mechanisms controlling the motility and virulence of Clostridium difficile, the most common cause of nosocomial infections in the United States and an urgent public health threat. Her lab has characterized the role of the bacterial signaling molecule c-di-GMP and its RNA-based sensors (riboswitches) in controlling multiple modes of C. difficile motility, as well as cytotoxin production. In addition, her group is defining the mechanisms of phase variation and determining the consequences of the resulting phenotypic heterogeneity to C. difficile physiology and pathogenesis. Tamayo serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Bacteriology and Infection and Immunity, as an associate editor for Frontiers in Microbiology and as an ad hoc reviewer for many ASM and other journals.

Irving Nachamkin, Dr.P.H, MPH, (DABMM), is emeritus professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He is past director of the Division of Laboratory Medicine (2009-20) and associate director of clinical microbiology (1982-2020) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

His research interests are in diagnostic microbiology with a specific interest in gastrointestinal infections. He has been very active in his local eastern Penn. ASM branch as well as ASM. Currently, he is a member of the ASM Evidence Based Laboratory Medicine Guidelines Committee and the chair of the Academy's Subcommittee on Awards. Dr. Nachamkin is board certified in Medical Microbiology (DABMM) as well as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, Infectious Disease Society of America and the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Gladys Alexandre, M.S., Ph.D., is a professor and the Head of the Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology department at the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville. She has also a joint faculty appointment in the Genome Science and Technology graduate program, a UT/Oak Ridge National Laboratory venture. Her research addresses challenges related to sustainable agriculture through basic research; specifically, she is interested in strategies used by commensal motile soil bacteria used as commercial bio-inoculants to establish beneficial plant-microbe associations.

She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from Université Claude Bernard, Lyon I (France) and served as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Georgia State University before joining the faculty of UT Knoxville.

Her group has characterized the chemotaxis responses of bacteria in the vicinity of plant roots and elucidated mechanisms by which soil bacteria integrate signaling by multiple chemotaxis signal transduction pathways to coordinate a single response. Alexandre and colleagues have also identified several strategies by which motile bacteria couple metabolism with sensing during chemotaxis and discovered novel regulatory mechanisms for controlling the signaling activity of chemotaxis receptors. Her current research focuses on molecular mechanisms that underlie the integration of metabolic status with bacterial chemotaxis signaling and expression of nitrogen fixation in the rhizosphere. 

Alexandre’s work has been recognized with a NSF CAREER award, an election as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) and on the Bacterial Locomotion and Signal Transduction Board of Directors. She has also been active in outreach activities and in initiatives to promote those most underrepresented in science, including deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. From 2014 to 2019, she was the program director of the Program for Excellence and Equity in Research (PEER) to increase the diversity of students earning Ph.D.s in biomedically relevant STEM disciplines. She has mentored more than 65 undergraduate students in research, many from under-represented groups in STEM. She received the 2019 ASM William A. Hinton Award for Advancement of a Diverse Community of Microbiologists for some of this work. She is an external Advisory Board Committee member for the Rochester Bridges to the Doctorate program, Rochester Institute of Technology. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy for Microbiology, an editor for Applied and Environmental Microbiology and on the editorial board of the Journal of Bacteriology.

Laszlo Csonka, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University. His major research interests include the analysis of the responses of bacteria to osmotic and high temperature stresses, using Salmonella enterica as model organism.
 
He received a B.S. in mathematics from the State University of New York at Buffalo and Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular engetics from Harvard University.
 
He was awarded the 2009 US-Indo Fellowship from ASM to teach a Genomic Annotation Computer Lab Course at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad, India, and was the recipient of the 2012 Science Prize for Inquiry-Based Instruction, shared with 4 colleagues, at Purdue University.
 

Dr. Cameron Currie received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Alberta, and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He spent 3 years as a faculty member in the University of Kansas Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology before moving his group to the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His training and research is highly interdisciplinary, spanning the fields of microbiology, genomics, chemical ecology and evolutionary biology. His lab studies the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of symbiotic associations, with a particular focus on defensive symbioses and insect-microbe associations. His research, including extensive work with the charismatic leaf-cutter ants, has potential applications in fields as diverse as bioenergy development and antimicrobial drug discovery. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and has received several significant awards, including a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), a NSF CAREER Award and a Government of Canada National Sciences and Engineering Research Council Doctoral Dissertation Prize.
 

Carlos Javier Orihuela, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Orihuela received a B.S. in biology from Baylor University in 1996 and a Ph.D. in microbiology & immunology from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 2001. Following a 4-year postdoctoral fellowship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, he became faculty in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. In 2015, Orihuela moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Microbiology.

Since graduate school, his research focus has been Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) disease progression: asymptomatic nasopharyngeal colonization → pneumonia → invasive disease. In obtaining a molecular understanding of this bacterium’s pathogenesis, he hopes to discover basic tenets of biology and identify new strategies for disease prevention or treatment. Most recently this includes exploring the molecular basis of cardiotoxicity during pneumonia, dissecting the anatomical-site specific gene expression of pneumococcal virulence determinants, identification of novel roles for pneumococcal surface proteins and examination of the age-related changes in alveolar macrophage function that enhance susceptibility to pneumonia in the elderly. Across all aspects of his research program, he strives to incorporate the most precise and powerful molecular tools and procedures. Today his laboratory is using isogenic marker-free Spn mutants and their genetically complemented controls, CRISPR-Cas9 gene-edited host cell lines, custom made transgenic mice and dual-species RNAseq for examination of host and bacterial gene expression in vivo. They regularly use Ingenuity Pathway Analysis and other bioinformatic analytical tools to uncover the biological significance in their ‘omics data. Over the course of his career, he has become proficient in the genetic manipulation of Spn and eukaryotic cells, protein expression and purification, flow cytometry, immunofluorescent and electron microscopy, and the use of a wide range of animal models pertaining to Spn disease. These tools and skills are an integral part of the research that goes on in his lab today. 
 
Orihuela has been recognized with a number of fellowships and honors including the Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging.
 

Esther Babady, Ph.D., D(ABMM), FIDSA, F(AAM) is the Director of the Clinical Microbiology Service, the Director of the CPEP clinical microbiology fellowship program, an attending microbiologist and member (professor) in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City.

She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology and completed a postdoctoral CPEP fellowship in clinical microbiology, both at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., before joining MSKCC. She is board-certified by the American Board of Medical Microbiology, a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

She is a senior editor for ASM Microbiology Spectrum and an associate editor for the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. She is the immediate past-president of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology (PASCV) and serves on the CDC Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) and the CLSI Expert Panel on Molecular Diagnostics. Her research interests include rapid diagnosis of infections in immunocompromised hosts, viral and fungal diagnostics and the development and evaluation of the clinical utility of molecular microbiology assays. She has published extensively on these topics.

Garth D. Ehrlich, Ph.D., is a professor of microbiology and immunology and otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa. His scientific career has been characterized by his integration of technologies and ideas across a broad spectrum of academic and clinical disciplines and the continuous development of highly significant advances that span a range of disciplines, including diagnostics, informatics, artificial intelligence, infectious diseases, genetic diseases, wound healing and evolutionary biology.

Ehrlich was elected a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology based on his work in the development of molecular diagnostics, genomic technologies and evolutionary modeling of chronic bacterial pathogenesis. Ehrlich’s career has been distinguished by his conceptual and technical advances in molecular medicine and evolutionary biology over more than 40 years—spanning the eras of the AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics—both of which he has materially affected by his insights and work. 

Rodolphe Barrangou, Ph.D., is T. R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University (N.C. State). Barrangou is focusing on the characterization of CRISPR-Cas systems and their applications in bacteria and beyond. The work has spanned basic scientific studies to understand and decipher the genetics of CRISPR-Cas systems, as well as developing novel technologies and applying them to develop and formulate next-generation commercial products. Barrangou spent 9 years in research and development and mergers and acquisitions at Danisco and DuPont and has been at N.C. State since 2013.  

For his CRISPR work, Barrangou received several international awards, including the 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award, the 2016 Harvard Medical School Warren Alpert Prize, the 2017 NAS Award in Molecular Biology and the 2018 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences. He has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Microbiology.  

Barrangou earned a B.S. in biological sciences from Rene Descartes University in Paris, France, an M.S. in biological engineering from the University of Technology in Compiegne, France, an M.S. in food science from N.C. State, a Ph.D. in genomics from N.C. State and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Barrangou is also the former Chairman of the Board of Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ CRBU), a co-founder of Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ NTLA), Locus Biosciences, TreeCo, Ancilia Biosciences and CRISPR Biotechnologies, an advisor to Inari Ag, Invaio, Provaxus and Hoofprint Biome and the Editor in Chief of the CRISPR Journal. 

Mya Breitbart, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of South Florida in the College of Marine Science, where she has been a faculty member for 15 years.  She earned her B.S. in biology from Florida Institute of Technology in 2000, and her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego in 2006.

Her research uses metagenomic sequencing to explore the identity, diversity and distribution of viruses in a wide range of environments, ranging from seawater to sewage. In addition, her laboratory is using viral metagenomics to discover novel viral pathogens causing disease in plants and animals, as well as to explore the environmental reservoirs and transmission mechanisms of these viruses.

Breitbart is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Academy of Microbiology, the National Academy of Sciences’ Kavli Frontiers Fellow, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, and was recognized as 1 of Popular Science Magazine’s “Brilliant 10” young scientists in 2013. She is also actively involved in scientific outreach activities and was recognized as the Girls Incorporated of Pinellas 2015 STEM Woman of the Year for her work inspiring young women to pursue STEM careers.

N. Louise Glass, Ph.D., is a professor in the Plant and Microbial Biology Department at the University of California-Berkeley and a senior faculty scientist in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Glass has focused on dissecting transcriptional regulatory networks in filamentous fungi associated with nutrient acquisition and plant biomass deconstruction using systems biology approaches. Glass also works on fungal communication that contributes to decisions on cooperation versus competition among fungi, a project that has been instrumental in defining molecular mechanisms of innate immunity in fungi. Glass’ more recent work includes developing high-throughput functional genomics approaches for non-model fungi to investigate plant-microbe-fungal interactions.

Glass received her Ph.D. from the University of California-Davis in plant pathology and performed her post-doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on fungal genetics/molecular biology. Glass joined the University of British Columbia Biotechnology Laboratory in 1989 as an assistant and then associate professor. In 1999, Glass moved to the Plant and Microbial Biology Department at UC-Berkeley, where she currently holds a full professorship position.

Glass is an international leader in systems biology approaches to fungal genetics, genomics and applications of fungi to bioenergy, biofuels and the environment. Glass is the UCB Fred E. Dickinson Chair of Wood Science and Technology, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, a fellow of the Mycological Society of America (MSA) and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.

Richard L. Hodinka, Ph.D., is professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine where he spent over 26 years as a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and Director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia before retiring from these institutions in 2014. Most recently, he was a tenured professor in microbiology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Greenville from 2014-2021 and served as the Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences from 2015-2020. He has years of experience in development and translation of viral diagnostics into clinical practice, with a major emphasis in the design, validation and implementation of qualitative and quantitative molecular-based assays and their use in patient care and management.

Hodinka is active in and has held positions of responsibility in the American Society for Microbiology, Pan American Society for Clinical Virology and Association for Molecular Pathology. He has served as the co-organizer of the Clinical Virology Symposium from 1994-2002 and co-organized the Molecular Virology Workshop for over 20 years.

Hodinka has authored numerous original scientific publications, review articles and book chapters in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases and has delivered many invited presentations. He is an editor of the Clinical Virology Manual and serves as an invited reviewer and editor/editorial board member for various journals. His awards include fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology, ASM bioMérieux Sonnenwirth Award for Leadership in Clinical Microbiology, PASCV Diagnostic Virology Award and PASCV Dupont Clinical Virology Young Investigator Award.

Cammie Lesser, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a research scholar and infectious diseases attending at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, San Francisco and completed an internal medical residency, infectious disease fellowship and postdoctoral training at the University of Washington, Seattle. 

Lesser is the Associate Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for the Study of Bacterial Pathogenesis, as well as the Harvard Medical School Infectious Disease and Basic Microbiological Mechanisms T32 training program. Research in her lab studies host-pathogen interactions, focusing on type III secretion systems. Projects in her lab focus on understanding how type III secreted proteins are defined as substrates, deciphering how they act to manipulate eukaryotic host cell processes and, most recently, engineering these secretion systems to develop engineered Escherichia coli as a therapeutic protein delivery platform. 

Lesser is a member of the Editorial Boards of Infection & Immunity, Current Opinions in Microbiology and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal and will be Co-Editor in Chief of Current Opinions in Microbiology starting in 2025. She recently completed a term as a standing member of the National Institute of Health’s Bacterial Pathogenesis (BACP) study section.

She is the recipient of multiple awards, including election to the American Academy of Microbiology and 2 National Institute of Health Director Awards, a Transformative Research Award and an Extraordinary, Unconventional Research Knowledge Acceleration (EUREKA) award.   

Peter Lipke, Ph.D., is a professor of biology at Brooklyn College. He is a microbiologist interested in the surface of fungi. Specifically, his group studies how protein amyloids affect adhesion of the fungi, how the host responds to fungal colonization and whether amyloid-targeted drugs can be developed as antifungals. His interests also include science education, opportunities in science for historically excluded groups, mentoring and student development.

He has authored over 100 papers and several patent applications.
 
Lipke has served as Director of MARC and SCORE Programs, department chairperson and faculty fellow for research development. He was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology and is a fellow of the AAAS. In 2018, he was awarded the prestigious ASM William A. Hinton Award for Advancement of a Diverse Community of Microbiologists, which recognizes outstanding contributions and service toward fostering the research training of minorities and increasing diversity in microbiology. 

Samantha Joye, Ph.D., is an oceanographer, an educator and a vocal ocean and environmental advocate. She is a regents’ professor and holds the Athletic Association Distinguished Professorship of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia; she is a professor in the Department of Marine Sciences. She is an expert in microbiology and biogeochemistry and works in extreme deep ocean environments, as well in blue-water environments. Her work bridges the fields of analytical chemistry, geology and microbiology and many projects focus on extreme environments, including seafloor cold seeps and hydrothermal vents, Antarctic ice-covered lakes and pelagic hypoxic zones where she and her colleagues seek to understand how microbial processes shape biogeochemical cycling.

Joye received her B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Joye has published 250 peer-reviewed scientific works to date and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, the American Geophysical Union, the American Academy of Microbiology and The Explorers Club. Joye is deeply committed to science communication and public outreach and works to advance ocean literacy and environmental education. She served as a science advisor to the BBC during production of Blue Planet II: The Deep. She partnered with award-winning cartoonist Jim Toomey to produce the educational cartoon series, “Adventures of Zach and Molly.” She works frequently with artists to generate ocean-themed art that stimulates empathy for, and interest in, the ocean.

Shan-Lu Liu, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of virology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University (OSU). He also holds an appointment in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity College of Medicine. His research focuses on viral entry, evolution and virus-host interactions of emerging and re-emerging viruses. Liu directs the Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program of the Infectious Diseases Institute and serves as Associate Director of the Center for Retrovirus Research at OSU. 

Liu received his medical training from China and Ph.D. from the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Prior to joining OSU, Liu was an associate professor at University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia and assistant professor and Canada Research Chair at McGill University in Canada. 

Liu is an editor of the Journal of Virology and guest editor of mBio, PNAS and PLoS Pathogens. He is also an associate editor of Viruses and serves on several editorial boards. He was Chair of the American Society for Virology (ASV)’s Travel Award Committee during 2017-2019 and will be the local host of the ASV 43rd Annual Meeting in 2024. He organized the first Midwest Virology Symposium in 2019 and serves as President of The Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America from 2022-2023. Liu was the founding President of the Association of Chinese Virologists in America from 2018-2020. He has was elected fellow to the American Academy of Microbiology in 2018 and fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in 2020. 

 

Kasturi Haldar, Ph.D., is Rev. Julius A. Nieuwland C.S.C. Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. She is also professor of anatomy and cell biology at Indiana University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on molecular, cellular and animal models host-pathogen interactions as well as clinical disease. Haldar served as the Parsons-Quinn Founding Director of the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases from 2008-2022 at the University of Notre Dame.

Haldar received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Notre Dame, she was the Charles and Emma H. Professor of Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her research is currently focused on molecular and evolutionary mechanisms underlying drug resistance in apicomplexan parasites as well as monogenetic genetic disorders and associated immune dysfunction.

Haldar served as a founding Deputy Editor/Co-Editor in Chief of PLOS Pathogens from 2006-2023. Her work has been recognized by the Burroughs Wellcome New Investigator in Molecular Parasitology and the Burroughs Wellcome New Initiatives in Malaria Award. She has also been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology, fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.

Kirsten Nielsen, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Medical School at the University of Minnesota. Her research addresses how pathogens adapt in the host to survive and cause disease. Nielsen received her B.S. in biochemistry from Purdue University. She then performed studies on the antifungal activity of a maize ribosome-inactivating protein on the fungal plant pathogen Aspergillus flavus and the model organism Aspergillus nidulans, obtaining her Ph.D. in botany from North Carolina State University. Prior to joining joining the University of Minnesota, Nielsen was a post-doctoral fellow at Duke University were she initiated her studies on the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.
 
Currently, her teams’ translational studies using animal models and human clinical isolates, along with their co-discovery of an entirely new in vivo fungal cell morphology, the titan cell, highlights the critical role of adaptability during host-pathogen interactions that misdirect the human immune system to dramatically increase pathogenicity and mortality. This research is transforming fundamental concepts underlying disease and is generating novel treatment avenues. 

Gemma Reguera, Ph.D., is a professor of microbiology, genetics and immunology and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Development in the College of Natural Sciences at Michigan State University. She is an applied and environmental microbiologist known for her pioneering work in electromicrobiology and her commitment to advancing the climate economy, bridging the divide between academia and industry and promoting the full participation and advancement of women and other historically excluded groups in the microbial sciences. 

She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and received a postdoctoral fellowship from Spain’s Ministry of Science to work on the ecology of infectious diseases (with Roberto Kolter, Harvard Medical School) and metal cycling (with Derek Lovley, University of Massachusetts-Amherst).

Since joining Michigan State University in 2006. She has led seminal studies to describe the electric nature of metal-reducing microbes and apply this knowledge to develop sustainable technologies for bioremediation, nanotechnology and bioenergy applications. She has also been recognized for her applied research and efforts to bridge the divide between academia and industry. She was elected fellow to the American Academy of Microbiology in 2019 and appointed in 2021 as Editor in Chief of Applied and Environmental Microbiology. She is also known for her advocacy and initiatives to promote the full participation and advancement of women in the microbial sciences, efforts that were recognized in 2022 with the ASM Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women from the American Society of Microbiology. 

Photini Sinnis, M.D., is a professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, with a joint appointment in the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine. She did her undergraduate work at Swarthmore College, obtained her M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School and completed a residency in internal medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York.
 
Her research program centers on malaria with a particular focus on the infective stage of the parasite, the sporozoite. Sporozoite transmission is a significant bottleneck for the parasite and thus an excellent point for intervention. The Sinnis lab is currently investigating the molecular interactions between sporozoites and their mosquito and mammalian hosts that enable the parasite to initiate infection and the quantitative dynamics of sporozoite transmission, with the goal of informing the vaccine effort and improving epidemiological models of malaria.
 
In addition to her research, Sinnis is Deputy Director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Institute and has had a long association with the Biology of Parasitism course offered in Woods Hole every summer, culminating in service as Course Director from 2015-2019. In this capacity, she worked to increase representation of students from disease-endemic countries and to maintain the informal atmosphere that is key to student learning, excitement and advancement to the next stage of their career. 

Lisa Y. Stein, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Climate Change Microbiology and Faculty of Science Associate Dean of Mentorship & Awards at the University of Alberta. 

Stein's research focuses on the metabolic pathways of inorganic nitrogen and single carbon metabolism in bacteria and archaea. She interrogates the integrated cycles of nitrogen and methane at the molecular, whole-cell and ecosystem levels to predict how and when greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide are released. Projects aim to harness microorganisms to generate commercially valuable bioproducts (e.g. bioplastics, biofuels) using single-carbon waste streams as feedstocks and to neutralize and maximize microbial activities in the nitrogen cycle to increase global crop productivity without production of greenhouse gases. Understanding the interconnections between the nitrogen and methane cycles enables novel climate change solutions that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and maximize production of food, fuels and material resources for humanity.   

Stein is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Atmospheric Methane Removal. She is Editor in Chief of the ISME Journal since 2020, an elected member of the American Academy of Microbiology since 2023 and received the Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring in 2022. Stein works in partnership with industries, non-governmental organizations, academics and governments to translate microbiological solutions toward greenhouse gas mitigation in engineered, agricultural and natural ecosystems.  

Steven W. Wilhelm, Ph.D., is the Kenneth & Blaire Mossman Professor of Microbiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), where he is in his 25th year. After training at Western University, he moved to the University of Texas and then University of British Columbia before joining the UTK faculty. In 2016, he became a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM), as well as a Sustaining Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). In 2021, he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2021, he was awarded (with Curtis Suttle) the John Martin award from ASLO for their contribution describing the viral shunt.

He studies synergies between microbial communities and biogeochemical cycles in lakes and oceans. Lab members use biomolecular tools—DNA/RNA sequencing, metabolomics and PCR-based quantitative analyses—to study viruses, bacteria and algae. His research is well-supported by various funding agencies; moreover, he is PI of an NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program that is entering its 10th year. His group has graduated 16 Ph.D.’s and 8 M.S..’s and engaged >100 undergraduates in research. Notable service includes more than a decade as graduate director and associate head, multiple editorial advisory boards and presently the AAM Subcommittee on Elections.  

Brenda Anne Wilson, Ph.D., is a professor of microbiology and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Education in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She holds joint appointments in pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine and in biomedical and translational sciences at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. She is the Illinois Faculty Fellow for Sandia National Laboratories in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation.
 
After completing her B.A. in biochemistry and German from Barnard College at Columbia University, she was a DAAD graduate fellow of biochemistry at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München in Germany, studying virus labeling for in vivo tracking. She then earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the Johns Hopkins University, where she received the Ernest M. Marks Achievement Award and an AAUW doctoral fellowship to study antibiotic biosynthesis. She began her studies on bacterial pathogenesis and bacterial protein toxins as an NIH-postdoctoral fellow in microbiology at Harvard Medical School, and during her first tenured faculty appointment in biochemistry at Wright State University School of Medicine.
 
Wilson's current research focuses on the host-microbe interface; bacterial pathogenesis and bacterial protein toxins; development of anti-toxin and toxin-based biologics; and comparative and functional genomic technologies and applications involving microbiomes in health and disease. 

Wade Winkler, Ph.D., is a professor of molecular microbiology at the University of Maryland. His research group investigates the biology of bacterial RNA elements, such as riboswitches, protein-sequestering RNAs, trans-acting regulatory RNAs, RNA-binding proteins, RNases and RNA elements that promote antitermination. By studying the molecular mechanisms of genetic regulatory elements, his laboratory is working to uncover new targets for antimicrobial drugs and to develop new and impactful tools for synthetic biology.

Winkler received his B.S. in molecular biology and microbiology from the University of Central Florida. He received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University Department of Microbiology, where he used genetic approaches to investigate Bacillus subtilis signal-responsive regulatory RNAs. He was a postdoctoral research associate at Yale University, where he used biochemical approaches to investigate ligand-RNA interactions. He was an assistant and associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center from 2004-2011, before relocating to the University of Maryland, where he holds joint professor appointments in the departments of cell biology and molecular genetics and chemistry and biochemistry.