John F. Alderete, Ph.D., is a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio where he has received more than $12 million in research funding and more than $3 million to support minority organizations and activities.

A native of Las Vegas, New Mexico, Dr. Alderete earned two baccalaureate degrees (mathematics and biology) from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology at Socorro. In 1978, he obtained his doctorate degree in microbiology from the University of Kansas at Lawrence. Dr. Alderete conducted his postdoctoral work at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill prior to taking a faculty position at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

Dr. Alderete's research on sexually transmitted diseases and on the number one, non-viral sexually transmitted agent, Trichomonas vaginalis, has been presented as abstracts published in 117 proceedings of national and international scientific meetings, where he has also participated in, chaired and organized scientific symposia. He has delivered more than 300 presentations at colleges, universities and conferences across the country and throughout the world. His research has resulted in five patents and one patent pending. His laboratory has submitted 23 sequences to the GenBank database. In addition, Dr. Alderete has an exclusive license agreement between the University of Texas Board of Regents and Xenotope Diagnostics, Inc., a biotechnology company that specializes in the development of diagnostics for infectious diseases, which he is the co-founder.

In April 2000, Dr. Alderete moderated a session at the Office of Research on Minority Health/NIH conference on health disparities in Washington, D.C. He has received many honors and awards, most notably the Premio Encuentro Award for Science and Technology in 1992, the single highest honor given to a Hispanic in America.

An effective leader, Dr. Alderete is the past president of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Sciences (SACNAS).