David H. Walker, MD, Carmage and Martha Walls
Distinguished University Chair in Tropical Diseases and Professor in
the Department of Pathology, is executive director of the CBEID. Dr.
Walker has a long and distinguished career as an independent NIH-funded
scientist. His research on rickettsial and ehrlichial molecular
microbiology, immunity, pathology, pathogenesis, clinical
pathophysiology, epidemiology, and diagnosis has included important
contributions to elucidating the protective immune mechanisms against
rickettsiae and ehrlichiae, the discovery and characterization of agents
of emerging infectious diseases, description of new diseases, and
contributions to the descriptions of the pathology of Lassa fever,
Rocky Mountain spotted fever, boutonneuse fever, and human
monocytotropic ehrlichiosis. His investigation of the 1979 outbreak of
anthrax in Sverdlovsk, Russia revealed it to have been inhalational
anthrax. His field research projects and training of international
scientists have ranged from China, Inner Mongolia, Sicily, Mexico, Peru,
Brazil, Slovenia, and Japan to Cameroon. Dr. Walker served as the
Principal Investigator of the Western Regional Center of Excellence for
Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (WRCE) from 2003
to 2014. This $105 million NIH grant supported research to develop an
number of new vaccines and point-of-care diagnostics for NIAID Category
A-C agents.
The Associate Director for the CBEID is Kimberly Schuenke, PhD. Dr.
Schuenke is charged with promoting the activities of infectious
disease researchers on campus. As a Certified Research Administrator,
Dr. Schuenke manages several multi-project grants whose goals are to
develop novel vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics against biothreat
agents and emerging infectious diseases. These include Ebola, Marburg,
and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, ehrlichioses, and rickettsial
diseases. She has a longstanding interest in enhancing STEM education,
and was a co-investigator on an NIH/NIAID-funded science education
grant that developed an interactive, web-based adventure series to
engage middle-school students in problem-solving activities in
infectious diseases.