Biographical Sketches of NIAID Council Members

NIAID welcomes our new Council members: Michael Brenner, Ana Fernandez-Sesma, Marc Jenkins, and Kay Whalen.

Senior Staff

  • Chairperson: Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director, NIAID, NIH, HHS
  • Executive secretary: Matthew J. Fenton, Ph.D., director, DEA, NIAID, NIH, HHS
  • Ex officio members:
    • Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director, NIH, HHS
    • Other ex officio members are listed beneath their subcommittee.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (DAIDS) Subcommittee

Photo Name, Biosketch, and Date Term Ends
Aftab A. Ansari, Ph.D.
Aftab A. Ansari, Ph.D., is professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. He is a basic immunologist with a broad background in transplantation immunology and infectious disease research, which includes serving as scientific director of the U.S. Navy overseas research laboratories in Cairo, Egypt, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Dr. Ansari’s current research focus is on defining methods and strategies to reduce and/or prevent gastrointestinal pathology in the SIV-infected nonhuman primate model of HIV infection to help facilitate generating effective antiviral immune responses. (October 31, 2019)
Amanda Castel, M.D., M.P.H.
Amanda Castel, M.D., M.P.H., is associate professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at The George Washington University. She is a medical epidemiologist with training in preventive medicine and applied public health epidemiology. One of Dr. Castel’s research areas is characterizing outcomes along the HIV-care continuum through the use of public health surveillance and clinical data. She also develops interventions to maximize outcomes along the continuum, including routine testing expansion, enhancing retention in care and medication adherence, and reducing community viral load. (October 31, 2018)
John Guatelli, M.D.
John Guatelli, M.D., is professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, where he specializes in the clinical aspects of infectious diseases and provides primary care to HIV-infected people. Dr. Guatelli is an expert molecular virologist and recognized for his studies of the HIV-1 proteins Vpu and Nef, which provide the virus with immune-evasion activities. He is well known for sharing in the discovery that BST-2 (tetherin) is the innate host defense protein (restriction factor) that Vpu counteracts to stimulate the release of virus particles from infected cells. (October 31, 2018)
Sally L. Hodder, M.D.
Sally L. Hodder, M.D., is professor of medicine at West Virginia University School of Medicine. Dr. Hodder also serves as associate vice president for clinical and translational research and director of the West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Before coming to West Virginia University, she directed adult HIV programs at Rutgers University, Newark campus. Dr. Hodder’s research has focused on HIV treatment as well as prevention among women; she served as protocol chair for the HIV Prevention Trials Network 064 study, a large multicenter study assessing HIV incidence among U.S. women at high risk for acquiring HIV. (October 31, 2019)
Cara Wilson, M.D.
Cara Wilson, M.D., is professor of medicine (infectious diseases subspecialty) and immunology at the University of Colorado, Denver (UCD). She is a physician-scientist whose laboratory studies the human immune response to HIV-1 infection and the factors that drive HIV-1 pathogenesis and inflammation in intestinal mucosal tissue, especially microbiome-related factors. Dr. Wilson is a member of the UCD Mucosal Inflammation Program, which provides a supportive infrastructure for studies of intestinal inflammation. She also has extensive experience in designing and implementing clinical trials focused on HIV-associated immune activation and immune-based therapies through her longstanding involvement in the AIDS Clinical Trials Group. (October 31, 2019)
  Ex officio member:
  • Victoria Davey, Ph.D., M.P.H., chief, Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Allergy and Immunology (DAIT) Subcommittee

Photo Name, Biosketch, and Date Term Ends
Wendy M. Book, M.D.
Wendy M. Book, M.D., is professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology. She is director of the Emory Adult Congenital Heart Center, specializing in the care of adults with congenital heart defects. In a volunteer capacity, Dr. Book serves as president on the executive board of the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED). Through her work with APFED, she advocates for the needs of patients with eosinophil-associated disorders. (October 31, 2018)
  Michael Brenner, M.D., (October 31, 2021)
Stephen J. Galli, M.D.
Stephen J. Galli, M.D., is Mary Hewitt Loveless, M.D., Professor; chair and professor of pathology; and professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University. He investigates the roles of mast cells and basophils in health and disease, including in host defense and allergic disorders such as food allergy and asthma. Dr. Galli has been a member or chair of NIH study sections and co-chaired an NIAID Food Allergy Research Expert Panel. He belongs to the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum where he served as president from 2010 to 2014, Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. (October 31, 2018)
Marc K. Jenkins, Ph.D.
Marc K. Jenkins, Ph.D., is a Regents Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and director of the Center for Immunology at the University of Minnesota. He conducts basic research on antigen-specific immune responses by helper T cells and B cells. Dr. Jenkins has been a member or chair of several NIH study sections and served on the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Counselors. He is a past president of the American Association of Immunologists. (October 31, 2021)
Gurjit Khurana Hershey, M.D., Ph.D.
Gurjit Khurana Hershey, M.D., Ph.D., is Kindervelt Endowed Chair in Asthma Research and professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She is also director of the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Cincinnati and co-director of the Office of Pediatric Clinical Fellowships at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Khurana Hershey’s research focuses on the overall goal of improving the health of children with asthma. Her laboratory integrates clinical, epidemiologic, translational, and basic research approaches to identify and delineate the mechanistic basis of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the development, progression, and persistence of asthma. (October 31, 2018)
Kay Whalen, MBA
Kay Whalen, M.B.A., is president of Executive Director, Inc., an association management firm that provides services to over 30 medical associations. Ms. Whalen serves as the executive director of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI) and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, and in a consulting partner role to the Clinical Immunology Society, the World Allergy Organization, and other medical associations. She received the Industry Advocate Award from the Wisconsin Society of Association Executives in 2006 and the AAAAI Distinguished Layperson Award in 2010. (October 31, 2021)

Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) Subcommittee

Photo Name, Biosketch, and Date Term Ends
Raul Andino, Ph.D.

Raul Andino, Ph.D., is professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he specializes in RNA viruses, with a focus on molecular biology, immunology, and evolutionary biology. His research includes mechanisms of replication, antiviral RNAi, and adaptation. Dr. Andino is interested in the evolution of the immune system and the role of virus population diversity in pathogenesis. Understanding the rules that control host and virus evolution has important implications for vaccine development and antivirals. He has served on several national advisory panels and is currently chair of the NIAID Systems Biology Program (SysBio) Steering Committee. (October 31, 2019)

Mark Feinberg M.D., Ph.D.
Mark Feinberg M.D., Ph.D., is president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). He is a physician-scientist who has been actively engaged in basic, translational, and clinical research, as well as patient care and health care policy—with a primary focus on HIV/AIDS pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention research, and the biology of emerging infectious diseases. Dr. Fefinberg served on the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco, and the Emory University School of Medicine, and as a medical officer in NIH’s Office of AIDS Research. From 2004 to 2015, he was vice president and chief public health and science officer for Merck Vaccines. Dr. Feinberg currently serves as chair of the Interim Scientific Advisory Committee of the Collaboration for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. (October 31, 2020)
Ana Fernandez-Sesma, Ph.D.
Ana Fernandez-Sesma, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). Her laboratory studies the modulation of innate immunity by viruses of human health interests, including dengue, influenza, HIV, and Zika, using mainly primary human systems, such as dendritic cells and macrophages as well as primary lung epithelial cells and human tonsils. The main goal is to understand the mechanisms of immune evasion used by these viruses to establish infection in humans. Dr. Fernandez-Sesma co-directs the Microbiology Main Training Area of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at ISMMS. She is on the editorial board of mSphere, PLoS Pathogens, and the Journal of Virology; has been a member of several NIH study sections; and is chair of the NIAID Human Immunology Project Consortium Steering Committee. (October 31, 2021)
Stanley M. Lemon, M.D.
Stanley M. Lemon, M.D., is professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests focus on the molecular virology of hepatotropic RNA viruses, the role of innate immunity in the pathogenesis of viral hepatitis, and mechanisms by which nonenveloped viruses such as those responsible for hepatitis A and hepatitis E gain egress from infected cells without cell lysis. Dr. Lemon served as chair of FDA’s Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee and Vaccines and Related Biologics Advisory Committee, as well as NIH’s Virology B Study Section. He was founding director of the Biosafety Level 4 Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch and a member of the National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity. (October 31, 2020)
Karen E. Nelson, Ph.D.
Karen E. Nelson, Ph.D., is president of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). Before being appointed president, she was director of JCVI's Rockville campus and director of human microbiology and metagenomics in JCVI’s Department of Human Genomic Medicine. Dr. Nelson has extensive experience in microbial ecology, microbial genomics, microbial physiology, and metagenomics. Since joining the JCVI legacy institutes, she has led several genomic and metagenomic efforts, including the first human metagenomics study, which was published in 2006. Ongoing studies in her group include metagenomic approaches to studying the ecology of the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals, the relationship between the microbiome and various human and animal disease conditions, and reference genome sequencing and analysis primarily for the human body. (October 31, 2019)
Robin Patel, M.D.
Robin Patel, M.D., is the Elizabeth P. and Robert E. Allen Professor of Individualized Medicine and professor of microbiology and medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Trained as an infectious diseases physician and clinical microbiologist, Dr. Patel’s research focuses on clinical bacteriology diagnostic testing, antimicrobial resistance, and microbial biofilms, with a special focus on prosthetic joint infection. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and an associate editor for the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Clinical Infectious Diseases. Dr. Patel has served on several study sections and is director of diagnostics and MASTERMIND (MASTER protocol for evaluating Multiple INfection Diagnostics) for the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group. (October 31, 2020) 
  Ex officio members:
  • Rima Khabbaz, M.D., deputy director for infectious diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

For more information, see the Advisory Council portal.​​​

Content last reviewed on September 14, 2018