Heidi Goodrich-Blair, Ph.D.

Heidi Goodrich-Blair, Ph.D.

University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Dr. Heidi Goodrich-Blair received her Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Albany in 1992. After conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Roberto Kolter at Harvard Medical School (1993-1997), Goodrich-Blair joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Bacteriology (1997-2016). She currently serves as the David and Sandra White Professor and Head of Microbiology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Her research has revealed the molecular mechanisms that underlie bacterial associations with animals in symbiotic relationships that can promote either health or disease. Her work has advanced knowledge of the selection, maintenance and consequences of bacterial-animal mutualisms from molecular, cellular and evolutionary perspectives. She has 82 peer-reviewed publications. 
 
In her varied roles as research mentor, committee member, instructor, advisor, undergraduate and graduate program director and training grant co-director, Goodrich-Blair has had the opportunity to share her curiosity about, passion for and knowledge of microbiology with numerous students; over the course of her career, Goodrich-Blair has mentored 66 undergraduates, 7 master's students, 19 Ph.D. students and 9 postdoctoral fellows.  
 
Goodrich-Blair is a member of ASM and an Academy fellow and served as an editor of Applied and Environmental Microbiology from 2013-2016. She received the 2013 Outstanding Advisor Award and the 2006 Pound Research Excellence Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. She was a Burroughs Wellcome Investigator in Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases (awarded in 2002).