Patrick Creisher, PharmD, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Carolyn Coyne at Duke University. His current research utilizes molecular virology, functional genomics, and organoid models to characterize essential host factors in enterovirus D70 infection and disease. By elucidating how this understudied enterovirus infects the surface of the eye and causes acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, he aims to advance our understanding of viral pathogenesis at this relatively unexplored mucosal barrier.

More broadly, Patrick is interested in developing and applying experimental model systems to study viral infections at understudied anatomical sites and in understudied populations. He earned his PharmD from Duquesne University, where he studied interferon signaling in the brains of measles virus-infected mice under the mentorship of Dr. Lauren O’Donnell. He then completed his PhD at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health under the mentorship of Dr. Sabra Klein, where he studied mechanisms of viral infections during pregnancy, including Zika virus, SARS-CoV-2, and Influenza A virus, using mouse models.