Julie Overbaugh
Julie M. Overbaugh is an American virologist. She is a Professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Her work in maternal and infant HIV transmission helped make clear the risk posed by breastfeeding and highlighted unique characteristics of an infant immune response that could inform vaccine development. Major scientific contributions to the understanding of HIV transmission and pathogenesis also include: identifying a bottleneck that selects one or a few variants during HIV transmission; demonstrating the importance of female hormones in HIV infection risk; showing the HIV reinfection is common; demonstrating a role for antibodies that mediate ADCC  in clinical disease; showing that HIV infected infants develop unique neutralizing antibody responses to HIV. Early life and education. Overbaugh was born and raised in Pennsylvania and graduated from Delone Catholic High School in 1975. During high school, she captained their basketball and field hockey teams and received an award for Excellence in Athletics. Following high school, Overbaugh was recruited to play college basketball for the University of Connecticut's Huskies from 1976 to 1978. During her tenure, she averaged 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 46 games, and served as team captain during her final two years . She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1979 and earned her PhD in chemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder. During her PhD, Overbaugh spent four months in Oklahoma aiding the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. She returned to school to complete her PhD and continued her training as a postdoctoral fellow in interdisciplinary programs in health and cancer biology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 1983 to 1987. During her fellowship, she became interested in HIV research because it was a "clear intersection of science and public health and  medicine." Career. Following her fellowship, Overbaugh joined the University of Washington (UW) to expand their HIV research program to include a basic science focus. In 1992, she became a member of the Nairobi HIVSTD Research Project which includes the study of how HIV is transmitted through breastfeeding. The following year, Overbaugh joined Joan Kreiss and Ruth W. Nduati in Kenya to understand the risk of HIV transmission through breastfeeding. The research team found that breastfeeding doubled the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child. They also saw that the HIV-blocking proteins arose within the first year of infection  for infants and needed much less honing than adult antibodies. Overbaugh and her research laboratory used this data to identify risks posed by breastfeeding and understand the unique characteristics of an infant's immune response. Overbaugh left the UW in 1999 to join the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center where she continued and expanded her studies of HIV transmission and pathogenesis, including working closely with the Kenya research collaborative team. This included expanding studies with Kreiss to better define the basis of transmission in high-risk women, such as sex workers. In 2017, Overbaugh was appointed the inaugural Hutch Associate  Director for Graduate Education. In 2020, Overbaugh collaborated with Jesse Bloom to study the molecular determinants that govern HIV-1 entry into host cells. Major awards. Due to her research, Overbaugh was named FierceBiotech's 2011 Women in Biotech and was elected to the American Society for Microbiology. Later that year, Overbaugh earned tribute and honorarium from Drexel University’s Institute for Women's Health and Leadership. In 2016, she also received the lifetime achievement Nature Award for Mentoring in Science and, two years later, she was recognized for her long service to the global fight against HIV with the Field 's Memorial Lecture at the opening session of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. As a result of her studies of HIV transmission and pathogenesis in affected cohorts, including African women and children, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was also elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences for her studies of HIV transmission and pathogenesis in affected cohorts, including African women and children. Research focus. Overbaugh's laboratory continues to study viral and immune factors that contribute to infection and disease in global populations at high risk of  HIV infection. This includes continued studies of mother-infant HIV transmission and infant responses to infection. An aspect of the work of the lab includes defining how antibodies evolve to become more potent. As such, her laboratory has also advanced research on SARS-CoV-2 immunity, developing tools that allows comprehensive profiling of antibody responses and pathways of escape. They also studyied other globally important pathogens such as Zika virus. Advocacy for diversity in science. Dr. Overbaugh has been a strong advocate for diversity in science during her career. Overbaugh was the founding faculty lead for Hutch United, a grass roots  effort established in 2013 and led by trainees to help promote the success of underrepresented groups in science and those who otherwise felt on the fringes. She has also served in an advisory role in the Fred Hutch Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and was selected as one of three Fred Hutch faculty to present at the 2021 DEI Summit. In her role as Senior Vice President and Director of the Office of Education and Training at the Fred Hutch, she helped oversee efforts to create a more diverse scientific workforce, she served as advocate for diversity in science  at all levels and helped provide support for new faculty launching their careers. Overbaugh has published papers in scientific journals pointing out gender bias in the review process. Overbaugh has the distinction of having hosted the most diverse lab at Fred Hutch. Among the 64 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows she has trained, 20 are members of the BIPOC community and 10 are members of the LGBTQ+ community. She has published 160 peer reviewed publications with African co-authors, and has mentored numerous African scientists for periods ranging from short-term technical training to masters and PhD level training. Her  citation for the Nature Mentorship Award calls out her strengths mentoring African scientists: "She has the patience to listen to and deal with culture shocks and adjustment to new surroundings and a different system of training and education." Resignation. In early 2022, Overbaugh was placed on administrative leave from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in order to conduct an independent external investigation after a photo of a Cancer Research Center Halloween Party from 2009 was anonymously distributed that allegedly showed her wearing blackface while dressed as Michael Jackson as part of a group "Thriller" costume. While determined to be  an isolated incident, and although an interview of her peers and coworkers failed to reveal any pattern of inappropriate behavior of any kind in the past or at any time while employed at Fred Hutch, Overbaugh ultimately stepped down from her role as a Senior Vice President at the Center. As described by the President of the Hutch in the town hall: "As part of [an] education healing process, Julie wanted to offer her direct apology to our community. I commend this." “Julie has offered to step down from her role as Senior Vice President of Education and Training and  I have accepted her resignation”. “She will continue to be a prominent investigator at the Fred Hutch in the Human Biology Division working on viruses that affect so many people around the world”. The external investigation report concluded "The anonymous complaint related to the 2009 blackface photograph is the first and only discrimination, harassment, or workplace complaint about Dr. Overbaugh in her twenty-three-year tenure at Fred Hutch. Dr. Overbaugh’s individual contributions to DEI efforts at Fred Hutch have been significant, wide-reaching, and long-standing."