About Us

Dr. Tod Merkel is a Principal Investigator with the US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD. He is also the President of the International Bordetella Society. Dr. Merkel’s laboratory focuses on developing and evaluating animal models for studying the safety and efficacy of vaccines against Pertussis, Anthrax, and Staphylococcal infections.

Dr. Marcela Pasetti is a Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Her laboratory researches vaccines and immunology to understand how protective immunity can be induced in animal models and in humans following infection and vaccination, and the mechanisms involved.

Dr. Kathryn Edwards is a Professor of Pediatrics Emerita at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN. Her laboratory has designed, conducted and led pivotal Phase I, II and III vaccine clinical studies, including a Multicenter Acellular Pertussis Trial comparing 13 different acellular pertussis vaccines produced by different manufacturers throughout the world with two whole cell pertussis vaccines produced in the United States.

Dr. Peter Sebo is a Professor and Founder of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Bacterial Pathogens at the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Prague. He is also the Founding Director of the Institute of Biotechnology of the CAS, designer of the BIOCEV research center in Vestec, and Professor of Microbiology at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. His research focuses molecular and cellular mechanisms of action of bacterial toxins, such as the adenylate cyclase toxin action and on Bordetella pertussis biology and virulence mechanisms. His laboratory is also involved in therapeutic and prophylactic vaccine development.

Dr. Seema Mattoo is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences (primary) and Biochemistry (by courtesy) at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Her laboratory investigates the role of post-translational modifications catalyzed by Fic (filamentation induced by cAMP) proteins in regulating diverse signal transduction pathways, including bacterial pathogenesis, protein folding, neurodegeneration, diabetes, protein translation, and cellular trafficking.

Dr. Eric Harvill is the Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Disease in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA. His laboratory examines and considers the evolution and ecology of different Bordetella species to guide studies of their complex interactions with their hosts.

Dr. Rachel Fernandez is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Associate Vice President, Research & Innovation at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Fernandez’ research focuses on how bacterial surfaces are assembled, vaccines and the bacterium causing pertussis (whooping cough).

Dr. Karen Scanlon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Her research seeks to define and therapeutically target age-related host factors that promote severe manifestations of pertussis in early life.

Dr. Monica Cartelle Gestal is an Assistant Professor in the Department Microbiology and Immunology and the Gratis Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at LSU health, Shreveport, LA. Her laboratory focusses on two main questions: 1) to understand how bacteria manipulate host immune responses to increase colonization and persistence and 2) to investigate the role of eosinophils during clearance of bacterial infection and the generation of protective immunity.

Dr. F. Heath Damron is the Director of the Vaccine Development Center and an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology at West Virginia University-Health Sciences Center, Morgantown, WV. His research focuses on the development of therapeutics and vaccines.

Dr. Breeze Cavell is a Senior Project Team Lead in Pathogen Immunology with the UK Health Security Agency, UK.

Dr. Iain MacArthur is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Sciences at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. Dr. MacArthur serves as the IBS Secretary.

Katelyn Parrish is a Graduate Student at Louisianna State University, and serves as the IBS Assistant Secretary.

Cassandra (Cassy) Hobbs, Program Manager. Cassy is a Program Specialist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Erik Hewlett, Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA. Chief Science Officer & Co-Founder at Cerillo.

Dr. Kingston Mills, Professor of Experimental Immunology, School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and Academic Director of Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) and TCD Research Theme Champion for Immunology, Inflammation and Infection.