Affiliation: University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology

Dr. Sarah Clark is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Clark’s research is focused on understanding how commensal and opportunistic bacteria in the respiratory tract modulate the host immune response. Dr. Clark obtained her PhD in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey N. Weiser at the University of Pennsylvania, where she investigated how the opportunistic respiratory tract pathogen Haemophilus influenzae evades host antibody recognition. As a Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Dr. Laurel L. Lenz at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Dr. Clark identified an immune signaling pathway induced by bacterial virulence proteins that promotes NK cell secretion of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Currently, Dr. Clark’s lab is exploring the impact of IL-10 on the pulmonary immune response to the opportunistic respiratory tract pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae.