ASCI / Young Physician-Scientist Awards, 2020
The Young Physician-Scientist Awards (YPSA) recognize physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research.
About the awardee
Ashley Steed, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Duke University. Thereafter she matriculated in the NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University for her medical and graduate school. Her graduate work in immunology focused on understanding host responses to infections, and specifically, elucidated the role of interferon gamma in suppression of viral reactivation from latency. Then she completed clinical training with a residency and chief-residency in Pediatrics and subspecialty training in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. She joined the faculty at Washington University in 2016.
Dr. Steed’s research investigates the role of the microbiota in the establishment and maintenance of antiviral immunity. She was a fellow in the national Pediatric Scientist Development Program and one of the first trainees in the Oliver Langenberg Physician-Scientist Training Program at Washington University. Her work demonstrated that specific bacteria and associated metabolites enhance innate immunity and afford protection in animal models of influenza infection. Currently, she aims to define the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which microbial dysbiosis impacts host immunity. She is funded externally by the NIH-NIAID and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and internally by the Department of Pediatrics, the Children’s Discovery Institute, and the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University.