Kirsten Nielsen, Ph.D., obtained her Ph.D. from NC State University in 2002 and was a postdoc (2002-2007) in Joe Heitman’s laboratory at Duke University. There, she began studying the human fungal pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans. In 2007, she began her independent career at the University of Minnesota and became a full professor in 2019. In 2024, she was recruited by Virginia Tech, where she now is professor of biomedical sciences and pathobiology and a faculty fellow in the office of research and innovation. 

Nielsen’s career includes many significant discoveries: 1) a unique fungal developmental state that mediates immune evasion and generates genetic diversity, 2) pathogenesis is dictated primarily by the fungal genome and not the host’s immunological status, and 3) identifying cryptococcal virulence genes. She has published numerous high impact papers in top-tier journals and regularly presents her research at conferences and universities, reviews papers and grants and participates in ASM governance, most recently as a member of the AAM Elections Committee. A staunch advocate of trainees and junior faculty, Nielsen organizes and directs career development workshops, is a mentor and role model for junior faculty and is an outstanding teacher. Her mentoring approach is based on the belief that there are many routes to becoming a successful microbiologist, and her role is to help mentees discover their path.