Student Profiles

John graduated from the Honors Program at Colorado State University (CSU) in 2016 with a degree in Biomedical Sciences.  While at CSU, John worked three years in the laboratory of Dr. Claire Huang at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Colorado. His research focused on the study of candidate vaccines against dengue and West Nile viruses. He also performed research at CSU for a year in the laboratory of Dr. Rushika Perera examining dengue virus pathogenesis.

In addition, John spent a summer with Dr. James Crowe at the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center exploring nanodisc technologies as a therapeutic for respiratory syncytial virus infection. The following three summers he investigated antiviral immunity against influenza in humans in the lab of Dr. Paul Thomas at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His work helped identify a novel genetic marker that detects patients at elevated risk for severe and potentially fatal influenza infections. 

Following graduation, John joined the laboratory of Dr. Heather Hickman in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as an NIH Postbaccalaureate Fellow. He developed a viral infection model of the oral mucosa to examine similarities and differences between the cutaneous and mucosal immune response following poxvirus infection. 

As an NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholar, John plans to explore immune mechanisms controlling or exacerbating viral infections. Upon completion of the Ox-Cam program, he aims for an academic career combining basic and translational research in viral immunology.