Cynthia L. Sears, M.D. is Professor of Medicine, Oncology and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the Microbiome Program Leader of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins and is Director of the Johns Hopkins Germfree Murine Facility.  She is an infectious diseases expert who has focused on enteric infections for her career. In particular, she has studied the pathogenesis of enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF), both in the laboratory and in clinical settings, over the past 25 years. The current focus of the Sears laboratory is to determine how the microbiota and specific bacteria contribute to colon carcinogenesis. The Sears laboratory integrates studies in humans and mouse models, employing microbiology, bioinformatics and immunologic methods. Dr. Sears served as Associate Editor of Clinical Infectious Diseases from 2000 to 2016. She has been an active member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) for more than 20 years, serving the Society in numerous capacities. She was the President of IDSA from October, 2018-October, 2019.