Bret A. Hassel, PhD
Program Co-Director
Dr. Bret Hassel is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology. His mentoring and teaching experience as a PI investigating the innate immune and tumor suppressor functions of RNase-L for more than 20 years led to his current leadership roles in training, education, and outreach. He served as Director of the MMI graduate program from 2015 - 2022, and is now Assistant Director of Training and Education at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Hassel is PI or co-I on NIH-funded training programs that span middle/high school (UMB CURE, RAMP), undergraduate (NSIP, ASCEND, SUMMIR), post-baccalaureate (STAR-PREP) and Master’s degree (Bridges to the Doctorate) students. These connections foster interactions and near-peer mentoring between trainees in different programs as an impactful component of the SUMMIR experience. A goal of all these programs is to inspire students to pursue careers in the biomedical research and healthcare workforce.
Karen Scanlon, PhD
Program Co-Director
Dr. Scanlon is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and directs an NIH-funded research lab focusing on the development of host-directed therapeutics for the treatment of severe pediatric infections. She has more than 15 years of research experience in the study of immune responses and host-pathogen interactions.
Dr. Scanlon is very active in training and mentoring, serving in multiple roles for both her academic and scientific communities. She is an ASM Science Teaching Fellows Alumni, having completed ASM’s “Best Practices in Curriculum Design, Teaching and Assessment,” and Co-Director of the GPLS Principles in Microbial Pathogenesis course. Dr. Scanlon serves as a mentor for high school, undergraduate and graduate students from many training programs.
Erin Harberts, PhD
Program Co-Director
Dr. Harberts is an Assistant Professor at Towson University. She is a former MMI alumna and active research collaborator with UMB faculty. Dr. Harberts' research program focuses on investigating the structure-activity relationship of innate immune pattern recognition receptors with microbial ligands.
Dr. Harberts has extensive experience as a research mentor for many trainee students within both the B2B and B2D programs hosted at TU. She currently mentors two B2D students who are completing their Master’s thesis research within her research lab, one of whom has accepted an offer to join the MMI PhD program. Dr. Harberts also teaches semester-long graduate and undergraduate Immunology and Molecular Biology courses at TU.
For More Information
Please contact the SUMMIR Program Coordinator, Ola Awad, PhD.