Lauren O. Bakaletz, PhD, is Principal Investigator in and the Director of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Vice President, Basic Sciences, The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and the Tillie E. Coleman Endowed Chair in Pediatric Research. She is a professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and of Otolaryngology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. The research program of the Bakaletz Lab is focused on determining the molecular mechanisms that underlie polymicrobial infections of the respiratory tract, with a primary emphasis on otitis media or middle ear infections, a highly prevalent pediatric disease worldwide.