Speakers

Dr. Sara Sawyer is a Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has received national and international prizes in virology. In 2011 she was awarded a PECASE by President Barack Obama at the White House. In 2022, the National Institutes of Health recognized her with the Director’s “Pioneer” award, and in 2018 with the “Avant-Garde” award, both of which are given to fewer than 8 researchers per year. Dr. Sawyer serves on the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council. In 2020, she co-founded Darwin Biosciences located in Boulder, Colorado. She holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University. Her current research focuses on virus host switching, with applications ranging from the emergence of new viruses to the creation of new HIV vaccine models.