Our Faculty
Jacob D. Estes, Ph.D.
Director/Professor
Research interests: HIV/SIV immunopathology, reservoir persistence, inflammatory bowel disease, and lymphoid and intestinal fibrosis
Louis Picker, M.D.
Associate Director/Professor
Research interests: Human and primate T cell biology, immunologic memory, and vaccine development
Jay Nelson, Ph.D.
Professor
Research interests: Flaviviruses, CMV pathogenesis, WNV, and HIV virology and pathobiology
Klaus Früh, Ph.D.
Professor
Research interests: HHV8 virology and pathobiology, functional genomics, host pathogen interaction: particularly viral Immune modulation Works with the following viral families: Herpesviruses (cytomegalovirus, Kaposi’s sarcoma associated virus), Poxviruses (Cowpox, Monkeypox), Flaviviruses (West Nile Virus, Dengue Virus)
Scott W. Wong, Ph.D.
Professor
Research interests: Viral pathogenesis and therapeutic development
Michael Axthelm, DVM, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Research interests: NPH models for Aids research, virology and human viral diseases
Ashlee Moses, Ph.D.
Professor
Research interests: Viral pathogenesis; anti-viral defense; KSHV/HHV8, HIV, herpesviruses
Jonah Sacha, Ph.D.
Professor
Research interests: T cell biology, Retroviruses, Vaccine development, Sacha Laboratory
Daniel Streblow, Ph.D.
Professor
Research interests: CMV pathogenesis and transplantation
Scott Hansen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Research interests: HIV pathogenesis and vaccine development
Marcel E. Curlin, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious diseases, School of Medicine
Joint Appointment as Associate Professor at VGTI
Clinical Research Interest: HIV Vaccine research, emerging infectious diseases and development of international collaborative research initiatives between OHSU and partners in Southeast Asia
Victor DeFilippis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Research interests: Activation and evasion of innate immune responses by viral pathogens
Patrizia Caposio, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Research interests: CMV pathogenesis, vascular diseases, and angiogenesis
Afam Okoye, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Research interests: Viral pathogenesis, T cell homeostasis, Immunological aging
Alec Hirsch, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Virus-host cell interactions
Rebecca Skalsky, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Non-coding RNAs (i.e. microRNAs) in viral pathogenesis, DNA tumor virus biology (i.e. gamma-herpesviruses)
Skalsky Laboratory
Benjamin Burwitz, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Dr. Burwitz's research is two-pronged, focusing on Hepatitis B virus/HIV co-infections, as well as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Brandon Wilder, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Research interests: The Wilder lab is focused on understanding how our immune system can fight malaria, and how we can use this information to make an effective vaccine suitable for widespread use and elimination of this ancient disease
Meaghan Hancock, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Research interests: Studying the roles of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) miRNAs in modulating host cellular signaling pathways
Jessica Smith, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Research interests: Studying the molecular biology of flaviviruses, including Dengue, West Nile, and Zika virus
Daniel Malouli, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Research interests: Cytomegalovirus genomics, determinants of species specificity and evolution; BAC recombineering and vector construction, Vaccine development; non-human primate in vivo models.
Affiliate faculty
Nancy Haigwood, Ph.D.
Professor and Director ONPRC
Research interests: HIV humoral immunity and pathogenesis
Ann J. Hessell, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor
Research interests: HIV humoral immunity and pathogenesis
Aleksandra Sikora, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Oregon State University
Adjunct Associate Professor, Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute, OHSU
Research Interests: Therapeutic interventions against gonorrhea.
Jeremy Smedley, DVM, MS, DACLAM
Professor and Head of ONPRC Infectious Disease Resource
Research interests: Developing new minimally invasive surgical techniques and optimizing animal models