COWIMS September 2023 WOM Alison Criss

This month’s COWIMS Woman of the Month featured faculty is Dr. Alison Criss! Alison Criss, PhD, is Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology and Director of the UVA Global Infectious Diseases Institute. Her laboratory investigates how Neisseria gonorrhoeae initiates innate immune responses at human mucosal surfaces, yet resists killing by neutrophils recruited during infection. The ultimate goal of this research is to identify host and bacterial targets for new antimicrobials and vaccines, while limiting the inflammatory damage in gonorrhea.

Criss’ honors include selection as an American Public Health Association Thought Leader, Chair of the 2025 Gordon Research Conference on Phagocytes, and ASM/ICAAC Young Investigator Awardee. She is committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists and serves as co-principal investigator of the UVA Infectious Diseases T32 Training Grant, teaches in graduate and medical courses and advises graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research staff, and undergraduates in her lab. Dr. Criss earned her BA in biology and chemistry from Williams College and her PhD in cell biology from Harvard Medical School, and at Northwestern University she performed postdoctoral research in microbiology and immunology.