Virginia L. Miller, Ph.D., is a professor of genetics and of microbiology & immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned her B.A. at the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from Harvard University (1985), where she studied regulation of cholera toxin expression with Dr. John Mekalanos. She did postdoctoral training at Stanford University with Dr. Stanley Falkow, where she began her studies on Yersinia and Salmonella.

After her postdoctoral fellowship, Miller joined the faculty at UCLA (1988), then moved to Washington University in St. Louis (1996). In 2008 she moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served as Associate Dean of Graduate Education.

Miller has a long-term interest in understanding how pathogens coordinate the expression of virulence determinants during an infection; her current research focuses on Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Theresa M. Koehler, Ph.D., is a professor and chair for the department of microbiology and molecular genetics at the McGovern Medical School, University of Texas, Houston.

Colleen Kraft, M.D., M.S., completed residency in internal medicine and fellowship in infectious diseases in the Department of Medicine, Emory University, as well as a master's in clinical research. She pursued post-graduate training in an ACGME-accredited medical microbiology fellowship.

Kraft is a Medical Director of the Microbiology Section for Emory Medical Laboratories at Emory Healthcare, as well as program director of the medical microbiology fellowship. She is a professor in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine and the division of infectious diseases and serves as the Associate Chief Medical Officer of Emory University hospital. She rounds on the inpatient infectious diseases consult service so as to link clinical microbiology to the bedside.

Kraft's research interests are in next-generation sequencing, microbiome therapeutics and healthcare innovation factors. She is very passionate about mentorship of trainees and training the next generation. She believes that creativity and innovation in federal policy can bring about lasting positive change in science.

Dr. Robin Patel is currently a professor of medicine and a professor of microbiology, the Elizabeth P. and Robert E. Allen Professor of Individualized Medicine, co-director of the Clinical Bacteriology Laboratory, director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory and chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology at the Mayo Clinic.

She is board certified in infectious diseases, as well as medical and public health microbiology. Patel’s research, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), focuses on clinical bacteriology diagnostic testing, antimicrobial resistance and microbial biofilms. She has published over 500 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has delivered numerous national and international presentations.

In addition to her positions at the Mayo Clinic, Patel has been a member of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Council, and is the director of the NIH-supported Laboratory Center for the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG), an advisor to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Subcommittee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing, a member of the American Board of Pathology Medical Microbiology and Clinical Pathology for ABPath CertLink^TM Test Development and Advisory Committees, and an associate editor of Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Clinical Infectious Diseases. She is also a past chair of the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination Microbiology and Immunology Test Material Development Committee and a current member of a U.S. Medical Licensing Examination Item Review Group.

Patel is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, co-chair of the ASM Microbe 2016-2018 Program Planning Committee and ASM Past President (Presidency: July 2019-June 2020). 

Victor DiRita, Ph.D., is the Rudolph Hugh Endowed Chair in Microbial Pathogenesis and Chairman of the Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University. His lab studies molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogens, with particular focus on gut pathogens Vibrio cholerae and Campylobacter jejuni.

DiRita also serves as Chair of the ASM Membership Board and Editor of the Journal of Bacteriology. He asks you to check out all the great things that the American Society for Microbiology has to offer, to join if you are not a member and to renew if you are! DiRita also invites you to follow him on Twitter.

Stefano Bertuzzi, Ph.D., MPH, is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). Bertuzzi has wide experience in science policy and scholarly publishing. Prior to joining as the CEO of ASM, Bertuzzi was the Executive Director at the American Society for Cell Biology for 3 years and was a senior scientific executive at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he served as Director of the Office of Science Policy, Planning, and Communications at the National Institute of Mental Health and as a science policy advisor to the NIH Director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni. He also served as Director of Neurogenetic Laboratory in the Dulbecco Institute Telethon Scientist in Milan, Italy.

Bertuzzi received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biotechnology from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, Italy with a fellowship in the Microbiology Institute, and his Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore with a specialization in health policy.

Throughout his career, Bertuzzi led the U.S. government negotiations with the European Union (EU) to achieve funding reciprocity between the NIH and the EU. He also worked with the Obama White House to develop an information system to capture the benefits of scientific investments during the Great Recession of 2008. He is one of the leaders who spearheaded the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) to fight the misuse of journal impact factor metric. He contributed to the NIH revision of the peer review system and to the development of the key public access policy for NIH funded research, which started the Open Access movement in scholarly publishing.

Most recently, Bertuzzi led ASM's efforts to address the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This included working directly with the White House COVID-19 Task Force, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to increase access to diagnostic testing supplies and address roadblocks to coronavirus testing. Bertuzzi penned a New York Times editorial and an mBio editorial outlining testing roadblocks and emphasizing the need for microbiologists and other scientists to support clinical laboratories to help contain the pandemic.

He has authored numerous research publications, editorials and science policy pieces in top journals and is recipient of many national and international awards. Bertuzzi is a thoughtful leader in science, a fellow of the prestigious Aspen Institute and a member of the Cosmos Club. In 2020, the President of the Italian Republic bestowed upon Bertuzzi the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, one of the highest honors in the Italian Republic.

Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D., is an evolutionary biologist and microbiologist. He is currently professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, and computational and systems biology, at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He co-founded and is Director of the Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine (CEBaM), which catalyzes research and education at the interface of these disciplines. He’s also a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and, prior to being elected as a member of the ASM Board of Directors, was Chair of the Council for Microbial Sciences.

Cooper received his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and his Ph.D. in 2000 from Michigan State University, under the mentorship of Richard Lenski, Ph.D. At MSU, he studied the evolution of specialization within the E. coli long term evolution experiment. Cooper was a postdoctoral fellow of the Michigan Society of Fellows at the University of Michigan, where, along with John LiPuma, M.D., he studied pathogen evolution within the cystic fibrosis airway. He was an assistant and associate professor at the University of New Hampshire from 2004-2015, moving to the University of Pittsburgh in 2015.

Today, the Cooper laboratory studies how potential pathogens (e.g., bacteria such as Burkholderia, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter and some viruses) evolve to adapt to new hosts and environments. Other major interests include how and why evolution in biofilms differs from well-mixed conditions, the evolution of antimicrobial resistance and why genome regions mutate and evolve at different rates. To enable these studies the lab runs a genomic core tailored to efficient microbial genome sequencing and bioinformatic analyses that aims to identify genetic causes of adaptation and/or drug tolerance during infections.

A broader goal of the Cooper lab is to share the wonder and power of evolutionary biology through outreach and mentorship. The lab's EvolvingSTEM program provides authentic research experiences and essential learning of evolution, microbiology and genetics through weeklong experiments in the classroom. EvolvingSTEM engages more than 1500 students annually in grades 6-16 and significantly improves student learning and attitudes toward STEM.

Vincent Young, Ph.D., is the William Henry Fitzbutler Collegiate Professor in Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases Division and Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Michigan Medical School. He received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985 and received his M.D. and Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Stanford University in 1992. He completed clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital. After an initial faculty position at Michigan State University, he joined the University of Michigan in 2007.

Young has a long-standing interest in the pathogenesis of bacterial infections of the gastrointestinal tract and the role of the normal microbiota in human health and disease. As part of the NIH Human Microbiome Project, Young led a team that studied the role of the microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease. Current research in the Young Lab includes a "team science" effort to understand the pathogenesis Clostridium difficile infection by an integrated approach combining clinical research, bacterial genomics, microbial ecology and immunology/host response projects.

Young also is leading a group of investigators that is developing the use of stem cell-derived intestinal organoids as a novel alternative model system for the study of enteric disease agents.

Michael S. Gilmore, Ph.D., is the chief scientific officer at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Massachusetts General Brigham and a senior scientist at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. 

Joanna Goldberg, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. She was awarded the 2012 ASM Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award.

Prior to joining Emory, she was a professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia and at the Channing Laboratory, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She received her B.A. in biology from Boston University and Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of California at Berkeley.

Goldberg has had continuous NIH funding for research on bacterial pathogens associated with life-threatening lung infections in individuals living with cystic fibrosis, particularly Pseudomonas aeruginosa. She studies the synthesis and regulation of surface antigens, including polysaccharides and protein adhesins, their role in infection and as potential antimicrobial and vaccine targets.

Goldberg was awarded the ASM Raymond W. Sarber Fellowship Award as a graduate student. As examples of her ASM involvement, she is a member of ASM’s Council on Microbial Sciences (COMS), she was chair of Division D, councilor for Division B, Chair of the ASM Career Development Committee, Chair of the ASM Conferences Committee and President of the ASM Virginia Branch.

Dr. Kellogg grew up on a charter boat in the Virgin Islands with the Caribbean Sea as her backyard, so it was no wonder she pursued a career in marine biology. Chris is a research microbiologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and currently leads an environmental microbiology laboratory specializing in coral microbial ecology. Her research on tropical corals has taken her to the Florida Keys, Caribbean, Hawaii and American Samoa, leading her friends to say that she specializes in ‘resort microbiology.’

Chris has been working in deepwater coral ecosystems since 2004 and considers herself extremely lucky to have had the privilege of visiting them personally using the Delta, Johnson-Sea-Link and Alvin submersibles. She has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed papers as well as a number of book chapters and has given invited keynote talks on both her aerosol microbiology and deep-sea coral microbial work. Chris served as a judge for the $2-million dollar Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE competition to design more accurate pH meters for the deep ocean and the $7-million dollar Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE to develop autonomous undersea mapping technologies. She was elected to the Council Policy Committee of the American Society for Microbiology (2012–2016), playing an active role in revamping the communication and governance structures of the organization. Chris is active in shaping the direction of microbiome research in the U.S., having represented the Department of Interior on the Federal Microbiome Interagency Working Group and being a part of the National Microbiome Data Collaborative.

Kara Levinson, Ph.D., MPH, D(ABMM), received her B.S. in microbiology from Northern Arizona University, her MPH in hospital and molecular epidemiology from the University of Michigan and served as an APHL Emerging Infectious Diseases Fellow at the Iowa Public Health Laboratory. She completed her Ph.D. in immunology and infectious disease at the New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center, where she studied vaccine development and host-pathogen interaction in Vibrio cholerae.

After obtaining her Ph.D., she completed a CPEP fellowship in clinical microbiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She then joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a Laboratory Leadership Service Fellow, where she focused on laboratory management and outbreak response at the New Hampshire public health laboratory.

Currently, she is the Deputy Director of the Tennessee State Public Health Laboratory.

Nina Salama, Ph.D., studies Helicobacter Pylori, a gastric bacterial pathogen bacteria, which infects half the world's population and can cause ulcers and gastric cancer.

Ron Xavier, Ph.D., is the Second Secretary (Primary Industries), Ministry for Primary Industries, Beijing, China.

His passion is to bring together diversity of thought and perspectives to advance the microbial sciences. As someone who has gone down a non-traditional career path, thanks to ASM, he is also passionate about widening career options for microbiologists and, thus, broadening their collective impact on society.

Xavier cares about what microbiologists, together, can do for science and what ASM, as the preeminent society in microbiology, can do for you. He believes the key to ASM's progress is not about knowledge or representation of a particular group of people, it's about asking questions in order to understand and interrogate issues, so as to bring out the best ideas and discussions moving forward.