Andrew Pekosz received his BS from Rutgers University in 1990 and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. Currently, he is a professor at the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins University. His research interests lie in understanding the interaction of viruses with the respiratory epithelium. Their efforts primarily focus on the influenza A virus and the severe, acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Still, they have interests in several other viruses including, enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68), Influenza B virus and other emerging viruses. There are two main focuses of their research program. The first is to understand how virus proteins target specific intracellular sites to mediate their function or to alter the function of host cell proteins and pathways. The second research focus of the laboratory is on understanding how viruses interact with respiratory epithelial cells to mediate the early stages of infection.