Catherine A. Brissette is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Brissette received her bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Louisiana State University and a Master’s degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Vermont. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Pathobiology, University of Washington. Dr. Brissette was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Kentucky before accepting a faculty position at UND in late 2010. Dr. Brissette’s research focuses on bacteria-host interactions, with a particular interest in pathogenic spirochetes, including the causative agents of Lyme disease and relapsing fever. The overarching theme of her laboratory is to discover how these microbes persist and cause long-term infections.