I am Associate Vice President for Research & Innovation and Professor of Microbiology at San Diego State University.
I obtained an MS in Microbiology from California State University, Long Beach, and a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of California at Irvine. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah with John Roth, I moved to a faculty position at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign where I worked as a professor for 18 years. In 2002 I moved to San Diego State University as founding Director of the Center for Microbial Sciences and Professor of Microbiology, and was Dean of the College of Sciences for 11 years.
My research focuses on bacterial and phage genetics and physiology, the evolution of microbial diseases, and the development of new vaccines and antibiotics.
In addition to these university roles, I was an instructor in the Advanced Bacterial Genetics Course and the Microbial Pathogenesis courses at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and have experience in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industry. I have organized numerous international courses and conferences in the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. From 2004-2007 I served first as President-Elect, President, then Past-President of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).
I am also part of an NSF I-Corps team focused on teaching life sciences entrepreneurship.
