Assistant Professor
Northwestern University
My name is Kelly Bachta and I’m an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at Northwestern University. After graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park, I matriculated to the University of Chicago’s Medical Scientist Training Program. There, I joined the laboratory of Dr. Olaf Schneewind and focused my graduate training in microbiology on the pathogenesis of Yersinia infections, including study on Yersinia entercolitica and Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. Following medical school, I completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. As a fellow, I began research on a new bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in the laboratory of Dr. John Mekalanos. I returned to Chicago after fellowship and joined the Division of Infectious Diseases at Northwestern University. In addition to seeing patients as an infectious disease consultant, I furthered my training through a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Alan Hauser. In Dr. Hauser’s laboratory, I continued researching Pseudomonas aeruginosa with an emphasis on microbial pathogenesis. There, I used animal modeling, in vivo imaging, and next generation sequencing technology to define the infection dynamics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bloodstream infection and showed how invasive infection fuels pathogen transmission. As a new Assistant Professor, I am applying these technologies using a mouse model to understand the dynamics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia in order to understand how invasive infections impact pathogen transmission. As a physician-scientist, I consult on the Infectious Disease inpatient service at Northwestern and thrive on merging my clinical experiences with translational and basic science pursuits.
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose
