About
Dr. Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the McGovern Medical School and Epidemiology at the School of Public Health at UTHealth. Dr. Walker joined UTHealth in 2019 after completing her postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Walker received her Ph.D. from the Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Iowa after completing her doctoral thesis work. Dr. Walker is a recipient of the Texas Rising STAR award (2019). The Walker lab is focused on understanding the host-pathogen interactions that dictate the onset, course, and outcome of chronic infections. Our work uses infections of medical devices as a model for chronic disease. By defining the bacterial and host mechanisms that facilitate these recalcitrant infections, we seek to develop novel antibiotic sparing therapies that can effectively treat common and costly diseases. We use a multidisciplinary approach to blend the use of basic science, model systems, and patient samples to pursue the following questions: 1. How do medical devices render people susceptible to infection? 2. What are the bacterial mechanisms that promote medical device infections? 3. What therapeutic strategies are effective against medical device infections?
Center Affiliation
Center for Infectious Diseases
Research Interests
- Infectious Disease