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Despite advances in public health and medical therapeutics, infectious diseases continue to represent the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and extract a considerable financial and societal toll even in developed countries due to factors such as emerging pathogens, AIDS or other immunocompromising conditions, and antimicrobial resistance. The training of new scientists who can elucidate basic mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis will be critical for the formulation of improved strategies to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases.

This training program in bacterial pathogenesis centers around an established and highly interactive interdisciplinary research community at the University of Washington. The members of the training faculty have been recruited from the Departments of Microbiology, Pathobiology, and Genome Sciences, as well as the Divisions of Adult and Pediatric Infectious Diseases. The faculty has a distinguished track record in research, documented success in the mentoring of pre- and post-doctoral scientists, and access to outstanding scientific resources and infrastructure. Research projects encompass important gram-positive, gram-negative, mycobacterial, chlamydial and spirochetal pathogens, with attention to biochemical, genetic, molecular, cellular and immunological aspects of host-pathogen interactions.

Trainees benefit from a comprehensive curriculum that includes core courses, a bi-weekly work-in-progress meeting, journal clubs, clinical microbiology rounds, and a wide range of seminars and conferences. The goal of this program is to prepare scientists to use an interdisciplinary and hypothesis-driven approach to obtain new insights into mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis that can lead to novel approaches for the prevention and management of infectious diseases.

For further information, please contact: Ferric C. Fang, M.D., Director