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

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

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