Susan K. Pierce PhD, MS

Dr. Susan K. Pierce has been the chief of the Laboratory of Immunogenetics at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID-NIH) since 1999. Prior to joining NIAID, she was a member of the faculty at Northwestern University, where she held the Cook Chair in the Biological Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976.

She is also chief of the Lymphocyte Activation Section (LAS), whose main goal is to gain an understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the initiation of BCR signaling, the intracellular trafficking of the BCR, and the generation, maintenance, and activation of B-cell memory. Her particular interest is the regulation of these processes by B cell-activating and inhibitory co-receptors and during immune responses to infection.

Pierce obtained her Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Pennsylvania. After a brief postdoctoral fellowship at Penn, she was recruited to Northwestern University as an assistant professor. She rose through the ranks and held the position of William A. and Gayle Cook Chair in the Biological Sciences at the time of her departure in 1999.