Mary Weber Receives Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award

Weber, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Carver College of Medicine, leads an internationally recognized research program that studies how disease-causing bacteria invade and manipulate human cells. 

Her work focuses on Chlamydia trachomatis, a bacterium that infects more than 150 million people worldwide each year and is linked to infertility, blindness, and certain cancers. Weber studies how infection contributes to long-term cellular changes that can lead to cancer. Weber has received three National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and published 19 highly cited papers since starting her independent research program. She also leads efforts to develop genetic tools for Orientia tsutsugamushi, the bacterium that causes scrub typhus, expanding research in infectious disease.

“This high-risk, high-reward effort positions her as a leading investigator in conducting research on understudied infectious agents,” says Li Wu, professor, endowed chair and departmental executive officer of microbiology and immunology. “It marks a clear inflection point in the growth and reach of her research program.”

Weber is a dedicated mentor and campus leader who helps train the next generation of scientists. She co-directs a federally funded research training program, serves on NIH study sections, and founded the American Society for Microbiology Student Chapter at the University of Iowa to support undergraduate and graduate students’ professional growth.

Weber earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Akron, a Master of Science in biology from Texas State University, and a PhD in biomedical sciences from Texas A&M Health Science Center. She completed postdoctoral training at the NIH and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Rocky Mountain Laboratories.