Valeria Reyes Ruiz, PhD

Assistant Professor

Pronouns: She/Her

Valeria grew up in Puerto Rico and earned her B.S. from the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao. She completed her doctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania with Dr. Sunny Shin. She then joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Skaar, where she developed her independent research program focused on identifying host and bacterial factors that influence the intracellular reservoir of Staphylococcus aureus. In her own lab, Valeria is committed to fostering a research environment where humanity and scientific discoveries are central to the lab’s values and identity.

Prithvi Thakur

Research Specialist

Pronouns: He/Him

Prithvi Thakur grew up in Illinois and recently earned his B.S. in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He spent his undergraduate career working in the Sperandio Lab and the Trowbridge Lab, focusing on microbiology and chemical ecology. Working as a research specialist in the Reyes Ruiz Lab, he aims to build research skills and apply for graduate school.