The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, in the School of Medicine, offers programs of study leading to the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science. For admission to the Ph.D. or M.S. program, the applicant must have attained the B.S or B.A. degree with a minimum grade-point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 point scale). In addition to the completed application form and $50 application fee, the scores of the General Test Section of the Graduate Record Examination and the TOEFL (when applicable), official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate course work, three letters of recommendation, and a short biographical sketch are required. The applicant must meet the other general requirements of the School of Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies as outlined in the General Information section of this catalog.  The application deadline is March 1st each year. Submission prior to March 1 is strongly encouraged in order to ensure that all required materials (especially letters of reference) are received by the deadline. The applicant is expected to have completed the following: One year of introductory biology, one year of organic chemistry, one year of physics, one semester (or equivalent ) of introductory calculus, and one semester of biochemistry.

Prospective students may be invited for a personal interview with members of the department.

Required Courses:

Elective Courses:

 
Note:
** Students enrolled in the M.D./Ph.D. Joint Degree Program, who have completed step I of NBME, will have satisfied all of the required course requirements except seminar, Research Ethics, Research Methods and research. Three electives will be required. They will be required to satisfactorily complete the Qualifying Exam and successfully defend a dissertation research project, in addition to attending all journal club sessions and seminars.

Program of Study
Upon successful completion of the first two semesters of required course work, maintaining a minimum 3.0 GPA, and upon the recommendation of the advisor or chair, the student may take the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination. The Qualifying Examination will consist of a written research proposal outside of his/her area of primary research and oral defense of the project. Three to five faculty with expertise in the area of the proposal will be selected by the chair to serve as the Examining Committee. The student may enter degree candidacy upon receipt of satisfactory judgment from the Examining Committee and successful completion of the final semester of coursework.

Selection of a Research Advisor, Dissertation Committee and Research Proposal

Selection of the Research Advisor and specific research area is one of the most important decisions of the student’s entire graduate training program, and is a joint decision by the student and faculty member. Students must select a Research Advisor for their dissertation research by the end of their second semester. Selection of the Research Advisor and formation of the Dissertation Committee must be approved by the Dean of the School of Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies. If the potential advisor has a primary appointment in another department, the potential advisor must agree, in writing, to provide stipend and tuition from his/her research funds. Upon approval of the Research Advisor, the student will formally decide upon a dissertation research project. The student, Research Advisor, and Departmental Chairperson will form a Dissertation Committee with five (5) graduate faculty members. The committee will be composed of the advisor, three faculty members of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and one additional graduate faculty member from another department. If the advisor does not have a primary appointment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, one of the three other departmental members with a primary appointment in the department must serve as Co-Advisor. The Chairman of the Department may serve as an ex-officio member of the committee.

The committee will meet regularly to evaluate progress of the research. The student will also be required to present a research seminar to the department annually on this progress. When the dissertation research is completed, the committee will conduct the final oral examination in accordance with the guidelines in the General Information section of this catalog.

For more information go to the department website at:
http://www.louisville.edu/medschool/microbiology/

Robert D. Stout
Professor and Chair

Yousef Abu Kwaik
Professor

Pascale Alard
Associate Professor

Haribabu Bodduluri
Professor

Paula Chilton
Assistant Professor

Dong Hoon Chung
Assistant Professor

James E. Graham
Associate Professor

Lawrence A. Hunt
Associate Professor

Venkatakrishna R. Jala
Assistant Professor

Colleen Johnson
Professor

Michele Kosiewicz
Associate Professor

Matthew Lawrenz
Assistant Professor

Bing Li
Assistant Professor

Richard D. Miller
Associate Professor

Thomas C. Mitchell
Associate Professor

Haval Shirwan
Professor 

Uldis N. Streips
Professor

Jill Suttles
Professor

Jonathan Warawa
Assistant Professor

Esma Yolcu
Assistant Professor

Huang-Ge Zhang
Professor

Joint Faculty

Donald R. Demuth
Professor
Periodontal, Endodontal & Dental Hygiene
School of Dentistry

G. Rafael Fernandez-Botran
Associate Professor Of Pathology And Laboratory Medicine

George Hajishengallis
Associate Professor
Dept. of Periodontics & Endodontics
School of Dentistry

Henry Kaplan
Professor
Chairman, Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences

Richard J. Lamont
Professor
Periodontics, Endodontics, and Dental Hygiene
School of Dentistry

Mariusz Ratajczak
Professor
Dept. Of Medicine

Hui Shao
Joint Faculty Assistant Professor
Dept. of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences

Robert H. Staat
Professor of Biological and Biophysical Sciences
School of Dentistry

Douglas D. Taylor
Professor
Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology
 
Associate Faculty
 
William G. Cheadle
Professor
Dept. of Surgery

Suzanne Ildstad
Professor of Surgery
Director, Institute of Cellular Therapeutics

Gary S. Marshall
Professor
Dept. of Pediatrics

Kenneth McLeish
Professor
Dept. of Medicine
Kidney Disease Program

Susanna K. Remold
Associate Faculty
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biology

David Scott
Associate Professor of Endodontics & Dental Hygiene
School of Dentistry

James W. Snyder
Professor
Clinical Services, Dept. of Pathology

Matthew Spite
Assistant Professor of Medicine

James T. Summersgill
Professor
Div. of Infectious Diseases
Dept. of Medicine

Silvia M. Uriarte
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Kidney Disease Program

Micah Worley
Assistant Professor
Dept. Of Biology

Jun Yan
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine
James Graham Brown Cancer Center
 
Adjunct Faculty

Carl Bruder
Karolinska Institute
Stockholm, Sweden

Karen Cost
Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Director, Clinical Immunology Laboratory

Nejat Egilmez
Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
State University of New York(SUNY)

Anthony J. Janckila
Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Technical Director, Special Hematology Laboratory
Department of Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center

Gerald Sonnenfeld
Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Binghamton University

Dennis Taub
Director, Clinical Core Laboratory
Laboratory of Immunology
National Institute of Aging, NIH
 
Emeritus Faculty
 
Pinghui Liu
Professor