A University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine administrator and professor whose research focuses on mucosal immunology and vaccines has been named a 2019 Fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology.

David Pascual, Ph.D., the interim associate dean for research and graduate studies at the college, is also a professor of immunology. He was one of 109 new fellows elected earlier this year to the AAM, a leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology. Fellows are chosen annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.

His laboratory is focused on understanding host mucosal immune responses to infectious and autoimmune diseases. For 29 years, Pascual has developed and tested various nasal oropharyngeal and oral vaccines and therapeutics and vaccine delivery systems, which are readily adaptable for human and animal diseases.

A major emphasis of this work is to develop a naso-oropharyngeal livestock vaccine for brucellosis. A second focus is the development of a bacterial-based therapeutic to treat Sjögren’s syndrome. Pascual and his collaborators look to bacteria for solutions to infectious and autoimmune diseases.

The academy consists of 2,400 fellows who represent all subspecialties of the microbial sciences and who are involved in basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry and government service worldwide.