Assistant Professor
The University of Texas Health Science Center
Dr. Blake Hanson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics & Environmental Sciences, as well as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Disease Pediatrics within the McGovern School of Medicine. His laboratory uses a combination of existing and innovative laboratory techniques, and cutting-edge sequencing and bioinformatics to study infectious disease transmission and colonization, how microbial communities impact the development of disease, and how antimicrobial resistance develops and transmits through society. Current projects include: elucidating the importance of acquired antimicrobial resistance genes and mobile genetic elements in clinical outcomes, such as patient mortality and response to treatment, in Staphylococcus aureus causing bacteremia, co-circulating strains of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), and vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE); and interrogating the role of the microbiome in implanted medical device-associated infections, with a specific focus on breast implants placed following mastectomy due to cancer.