Dr. Cowardin received both her B.S. (2010) and Ph.D. (2015, Petri lab) from UVA before completing postdoctoral research with Dr. Jeffrey Gordon at Washington University in Saint Louis. Returning to UVA in July 2020 makes Dr. Cowardin a proud triple Hoo. She has been fascinated by the complex immune and bacterial environment of the gut since her days of undergraduate research, and is motivated to apply lessons learned from this work to understanding, preventing, and treating childhood undernutrition.

Dr. Richie received her B.S. (2020) from North Carolina State University and went on to complete a Ph.D. (2024) at Kansas State University working with Dr. Sonny Lee. There, she investigated which microbes are present in inflammatory bowel disease through metagenomics and other ‘omics to quantify the microbial functions that continually drive inflammation in the gut via nutrient stealing. She is excited to take this knowledge and apply this framework to the gut environment in the mouse stunting model to find microbes that could aid in undernutrition.

Claire graduated with her B.S. in Biology from the University of Virginia in May 2022, and she is happy to now be a double Hoo in the BIMS program. She participated in undergraduate research in the field of cancer immunology in the Engelhard Lab but has always also been interested in how the microbiome interacts with the immune system, particularly how perturbations in the microbiome affect immune function. She is excited to study how changes in the maternal microbiome in the context of undernutrition affect immune development in offspring.

Caroline graduated from William and Mary in 2024 with a B.S. in Biology and a secondary major in Public Policy. Although her undergraduate research focused on specific receptor signaling mechanisms, she has always been interested in how environmental factors can influence human health, and is excited to learn more about how commensal microbes and immune signaling can interact in the gut to impact nutritional and health outcomes.

Axel is a recently graduated Hoo in the Cowardin Lab with a strong interest in understanding the role of the microbiome in environmental enteric dysfunction and its impact on childhood stunting. He is passionate about learning metagenomics and contributing to its use in exploring the functional capacity of the microbiota, with the goal of uncovering potential microbial pathways that can be targeted through culturally sensitive interventions. He is eager to apply this knowledge to develop practical solutions for improving health outcomes in underserved communities.