Dr. Laura Kramer, PhD has 50 years’ experience studying arboviruses in the field and laboratory, from both experimental and observational approaches, using both classical and molecular tools. She was Director of the Arbovirus Laboratory, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health from 2000 -2020 when she retired, and Professor of Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York (SUNY) School of Public Health, Albany, NY. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Biology department at SUNY Albany. She remains a consultant on her active grants, which focus on basic and applied field and laboratory studies examining the interaction of mosquito and tick-borne arboviruses, their vector and vertebrate hosts, and how these interactions impact transmission intensity, adaptation and evolution of the pathogen. Research addresses the molecular epidemiology of these viruses over time and space, as well as their ecology  and epidemiology. She has been continuously funded by NIAID since 1998.  Her work has resulted in more than 230 publications, 30 invited book chapters, and more than 100 invited presentations in national and international settings.

Dr. Kramer is the recipient of several awards that recognize her accomplishments in arbovirology, most recently in 2018, the RM Taylor award for lifetime excellence in research, from the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; and in 2014 and 2019, Fulbright International Scholar’s award to conduct research and teach in Argentina.Dr. Kramer also is a virology moderator of ProMED-mail and an author in the virus section of Merck manuals.