Directory

This Directory includes Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni selectable by category, search or alphabetical by last name. Over 110 students have graduated from the Department of Biomedical Informatics (25+ PhD, 50+ MS, 25+ Certificate). The diversity of careers available to DBMI alumnus is evident in their biographies. Many of our graduates are teaching and performing research in academic institutions, such as Vanderbilt University, Arizona State University, and New York University while others have entered private industry with companies such as Cerner Corporation and Boston Scientific; some have positions in government agencies, such as the NIH and AHRQ, while others are at major medical centers, serving in roles such as Chief Medical Information Officer. We maintain a database of the career paths of our graduates. If you are an alumnus, please contact us if you would like to submit or update information!

Erik Wright

Assistant Professor
Work Phone: 412-383-4458 Admin: Maria Bond Publications: Google Scholar Biosketch: Biosketch CV: CV Innovation: Innovation Moonshot: Moonshot Website: Wright Lab
Photo of Erik Wright

Biography

Titles:
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Research Interests:
Even though we do not see them, microbes are everywhere around and inside us. From their perspective, they live in dense communities where they compete for survival. Their communities are immensely diverse and they must continually adapt to survive. Most microbes tend to help us, but a few can be harmful. Some microbes are the source of antibiotics that we use to treat the harmful ones. This is one of the greatest advances in medicine, until the harmful ones become resistant…
The Wright Lab uses experimental and computational approaches to study how microorganisms fight for survival. In particular, we seek to tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance through understanding the evolution of both antibiotic-producing microbes and antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
Four fundamental questions motivate research in the lab:
• How can we slow, and ultimately reverse, antibiotic resistance worldwide?
• Can we learn to interpret microbial communication within communities?
• How can we decipher the information contained in millions of microbial genomes?
• How do we develop optimal strategies for treating infectious diseases in the clinic?
Together, the answers to these questions help us to succeed at the mission of the Wright lab: To advance medicine by developing innovative solutions to the problem of antibiotic resistance.
For more information on our current research, publications, and open positions, please visit wrightlabscience.com.

Education and Training:

PhD Microbiology @ UW-Madison
MS Civil & Environmental Engineering @ UW-Madison
BS Electrical & Computer Engineering @ Cornell University