Microbiology

John W. Foster received his BS from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and his PhD from Hahnemann University, where he worked with Albert G. Moat. After postdoctoral work at Georgetown University, he joined the Marshall University School of Medicine in West Virginia. He is currently teaching in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in Mobile, Alabama. Dr. Foster has coauthored three editions of the textbook Microbial Physiology and has published more than 100 journal articles describing the physiology and genetics of microbial stress responses. He has served as Chair of the Microbial Physiology and Metabolism division of the American Society for Microbiology and as a member of the editorial advisory board of the journal Molecular Microbiology.

Zarrintaj (Zari) Aliabadi is a physician assistant and a microbiologist. She received her Pharm D from the University of Tehran College of Pharmacy, in Iran, and her PhD in biomedical sciences from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where she worked with John W. Foster. After her postdoctoral work at the University of South Alabama (USA), in Mobile, Alabama, she joined the Department of Biochemistry at the USA College of Medicine, where she taught biochemistry and conducted research on sickle-cell anemia. Dr. Aliabadi then earned a master’s in health sciences from the USA Physician Assistant Studies Program, practiced medicine as a PA in endocrinology, served as director of the USA Diabetic Foot Clinic, and became Chair of the USA Physician Assistant Studies Program. Recently she was named professor emeritus for her contributions. Dr. Aliabadi has taught extensively on infectious disease, pathophysiology, and clinical medicine to undergraduate pre–health profession students, graduate physician assistant students, and medical students. Her publications span the realms of microbiology and medicine.

Joan L. Slonczewski received their BA from Bryn Mawr College and her PhD in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University, where she studied bacterial motility with Robert M. Macnab. Since completing postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, they have since taught undergraduate microbiology in the Department of Biology at Kenyon College, where they earned a Silver Medal in the National Professor of the Year program of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. They have published numerous research articles with undergraduate coauthors on bacterial pH regulation as well as five science fiction novels, including The Highest Frontier and A Door into Ocean, both of which earned the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. They conducted fieldwork on microbial ecosystems in Antarctica, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. They have served as At-Large Member representing Divisions on the Council Policy Committee of the American Society for Microbiology and as a member of the editorial board of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.