Next Generation Sequencing for Infectious Disease Diagnostics: The Next Paradigm Shift?

Lecture Presenter

Patricia Simner, PhD, D(ABMM) Associate Professor of Pathology and Infectious Diseases Director of the Medical Bacteriology and Infectious Disease Sequencing Laboratories Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Dr. Trish Simner, PhD, D(ABMM), is an associate professor of pathology and infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the director of the medical bacteriology and infectious disease sequencing laboratories at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She completed her PhD at the University of Manitoba in Manitoba, Canada, and a two-year clinical microbiology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. She is widely regarded internationally as an expert in the field of mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance. Her research has focused on understanding the molecular epidemiology and mechanisms of resistance of gram-negative bacteria, in particular those harboring β-lactamase enzymes. She also is involved in investigating novel diagnostic tools to rapidly identify infectious pathogens and in developing NGS applications as methodology in clinical microbiology laboratories. Her work has resulted in greater than 125 peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Dr. Simner was the recipient of the American Society for Microbiology 2018 Diagnostics Young Investigator Award and recognized with the Faculty of Science Exceptional Achievement Honored Alumni Award from the University of Manitoba. Recently, she was awarded the 2022 Catherine and Constantinos J. Limas Research Award by the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Simner contributes to the field of clinical microbiology as a voting member on the Subcommittee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing for the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, the Early Career At-Large representative for the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Council on Microbial Science, a member of the College of American Pathologist Microbiology Committee and the vice chair of the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) Diagnostic Committee.