Dr. Cassat is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation (VI4). Prior to joining Vanderbilt for Pediatrics Residency and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship, Dr. Cassat obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His research program spans bacterial pathogenesis, innate immunity, and osteoimmunology, with a specific focus on the Gram-positive pathogen Staphylococcus aureus in the setting of osteomyelitis. Dr. Cassat has elucidated fundamental mechanisms driving staphylococcal infection, while also revealing how infectious and inflammatory stimuli alter bone homeostasis to promote disease pathogenesis. The broad integration of cell biology, immunology, and microbiology has facilitated expansion of his research program to encompass additional bacterial pathogens, as well as the study of non-infectious diseases of bone. His work has been continuously funded by the NIH since starting his independent research program. Dr. Cassat is also the recipient of several national awards, including a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists, the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Young Investigator Award, and an ASCI Young Physician-Scientist Award.