Conference speaker

Sarah Cobey is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. Her group investigates how immunity structures pathogen populations. Her early work examined the evolutionary consequences of immune-mediated competition between different pathogen strains, including influenza, pneumococcus, and human papillomavirus.

Her group's focus has since expanded to include the dynamics of the host immune response, asking how infections, vaccinations, and other factors shape responses and protection over time. This research involves linking immunology, epidemiology, and virology with ecological and evolutionary principles.

Dr. Cobey graduated from Princeton University, obtained her PhD in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Michigan, and completed a NIH Ruth Kirschstein fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health. At the University of Chicago, she has received an NIH New Innovator Award and a McDonnell Foundation Complex Systems Scholar Award.