Dr. Vanessa Varaljay got her B.S. in Biology from Cleveland State University in Cleveland OH, and her Ph.D. in Microbiology from University of Georgia in Athens, GA. She is currently the strategic alliance officer for the Infectious Diseases Institute. She directs business development efforts in infectious diseases with government, industry and foundation sponsors, interfacing closely with faculty and internal university organizations to deliver high-value research and educational opportunities. Dr. Varaljay has extensive scientific leadership experience in microbiology, functional genomics, and next generation sequencing, as well as managing research projects and interdisciplinary teams.