overview

• Rachel Roper, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at East Carolina University in the Brody School of Medicine. Dr. Roper received her B.S. from Texas A &; M University in 1987, her M.S. in 1990 and her Ph.D. in 1992 from the University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry where she received the M.A. Hare Research Excellence Award. She received her post-doctoral training in virology with Dr. Bernard Moss at the National Institutes of Health, and was awarded an NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence. In 1999, she was appointed Director of Immunology and Virology for a British Columbia veterinary vaccine company. In 2001, she became an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Biochemistry &; Microbiology at the University of Victoria and also taught at the University of British Columbia. In 2003 Dr. Roper was part of the team that first sequenced and analyzed the SARS virus genome and is an inventor on the issued US patent. She became the Program Director for the British Columbia SARS Accelerated Vaccine Initiative and headed research programs comparing SARS vaccines in both mouse and ferret challenge models. Dr. Roper has received federal funding from Canada and the NIH for work on SARS and poxviruses. Her work focuses on viral genomics, immunoregulatory viral virulence factors and vaccine development. She is the inventor on a US Patent on the use of a poxvirus gene to improve vaccine safety and efficacy and is a member of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Roper is a recipient of the ECU Women of Distinction Award for outstanding leadership, Brody School of Medicine Women's Advocacy Award, and the Faculty Senate 50th Anniversary Recognition Award for "extraordinary efforts and achievement on behalf of faculty".