On January 16th, 2026, the microbiology lab lost a beloved member of our team, Amber Martin. In honor of her passion for education, the Department of Pathology and the Center for Advancement have established the Amber Martin Laboratory Science Fund.

Melissa Blessing, DO has been appointed to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences for the 2026–2031 term.

Tre’Andice Williams, a graduate student in Marco Hefti, PhD’s research laboratory, was accepted to the Iowa Innovation Leadership Fellowship for the 2026-27 term.

Aranza Pinedo, MD, M.Ed, M.MEd received the Pathologist in Training Best Abstract Award from the Renal Pathology Society at the 2026 USCAP annual meeting for her abstract “Training Gaps, Perceptions, and Career Interest in Nephropathology among U.S. Anatomic Pathology Residents: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study and Call to Action.”

Congratulations to Narges Firouzshahi, MS, a doctoral student in Marco Hefti, PhD’s research laboratory, who has received the Graduate College Summer Fellowship for Summer 2026.

Mohammad Heidarian, MSc receives the Ballard & Seashore Fellowship Award for Fall 2026 Semester. Heidarian is a student in our Experimental Pathology PhD program and a member of Vladimir Badovinac, PhD's research laboratory.

Shailesh K. Shahi, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, has received the Early Career Faculty Travel Grant Award from the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) to attend the annual IMMUNOLOGY2026 meeting, which will be held April 15–19, 2026, in Boston, Massachusetts.

A collaborative case report from Matthew Krasowski, MD, PhD and Brad Ford, MD, PhD along with physicians from the Department of Internal Medicine Quanhathai Kaewpoowat, MD; Jack Stapleton, MD; and Laura Stulken, PA-C, MPH was one of the top-read articles in the American Society for Microbiology in 2025.

Drs. Vladimir Badovinac and John Harty have been awarded a new five-year R01 research grant from the NIH/NIAID entitled “Impact of Whole-Body Radiation Exposure on Pathogen-Specific Memory CD8 T Cells.” The award totals $3,247,420. The project began on February 10, 2026, and will conclude on January 31, 2031.

David Buhr, a 1973 alum of the University of Iowa Medical Laboratory Science program, helped relaunch the MLS program with guidance and scholarships alongside his wife Pam for UI students pursuing a similar career path. Buhr credits his medical laboratory science education from the University of Iowa for playing a pivotal role in his career.

Research on how prior malaria infection compromises subsequent vaccine responses and development of strategies to overcome this dysfunction by Mariah Hassert, PhD; Lisa Drewry, PhD, Lecia Epping, BS; Lisa Hancox, BA; and Sahaana Arumugam, BA, BS from the Harty lab was recently published in Nature Microbiology.

Two recent studies from Ashutosh Mangalam, PhD’s laboratory now provide converging evidence that oral microbial imbalance is closely linked to immune activation and metabolic disruption in people with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), highlighting oral health as an underappreciated contributor to MS pathobiology.