Katherine Fitzgerald, PhD, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, and director of the Program in Innate Immunity; and Sanjay Ram, MD, professor of medicine, have been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group of the American Society of Microbiology. They are among 68 new fellows, who are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.
Dr. Fitzgerald is an international leader in the field of immunity. Her lab focuses on uncovering the molecular basis of host defense and the inflammatory process with the goal of understanding the pathogenesis of infectious and inflammatory diseases. She has made numerous novel discoveries, including the identification of Toll-like receptor adapter molecules; TANK binding kinase-1 (TBK1) as the IRF3 kinase; identification of the AIM2 inflammasome; and uncovering new evidence for the importance of long-coding RNAs in innate immunity.
Dr. Ram studies how gonococci, the bacteria that cause the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea, and meningococci, which causes bacterial meningitis, escape innate immune defenses. He is working to translate this research to develop vaccines and immunotherapies to treat multidrug-resistant gonorrhea, a global public health problem.
There are more than 2,500 fellows in the American Academy of Microbiology, representing all subspecialties of the microbial sciences and involved in basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry, and government service. Fitzgerald and Ram join nearly two dozen elected fellows at UMass Medical School.