Dr. Pless is a Research Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Disease in the Department of Medicine and Director of the Microbial Genomics Epidemiology Laboratory (MiGEL). Her research interests include:
•Epidemiology of hospital acquired infections
•Advanced genomic sequencing and identification of infectious pathogens
•Whole genome sequencing of bacterial, viral, and fungal organisms
•"Big Data" wrangling and analysis utilizing genetic and phenotypic sources of data
Dr. Pless leads the real-time whole genome sequencing and identification efforts of pathogenic organisms in MiGEL, an essential component of the Enhanced Detection System for Healthcare-Associated Transmission (EDS-HAT). Dr. Pless works closely with the UPMC Infection Prevention Team to identify outbreak clusters of nosocomial infections.
Dr. Pless is a guest lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health. Topics covered include genomic advancements in complex disease. She has mentored and trained numerous students, fellows, and scientists at the University of Pittsburgh.
- BS, University of Pittsburgh Johnstown, 2003
- PhD, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, 2016
- Advanced Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Pittsburgh Health system (VAPHS), Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), 2022
- Post-Doctoral Scholar, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychiatry, 2022
