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Stefano Bertuzzi, Ph.D., MPH, is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½ (ASM). Bertuzzi has wide experience in science policy and scholarly publishing. Prior to joining as the CEO of ASM, Bertuzzi was the Executive Director at the American Society for Cell Biology for 3 years and was a senior scientific executive at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he served as Director of the Office of Science Policy, Planning, and Communications at the National Institute of Mental Health and as a science policy advisor to the NIH Director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni. He also served as Director of Neurogenetic Laboratory in the Dulbecco Institute Telethon Scientist in Milan, Italy.

Bertuzzi received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biotechnology from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, Italy with a fellowship in the °®¶¹´«Ã½ Institute, and his Master’s in Public Health (MPH) from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore with a specialization in health policy.

Throughout his career, Bertuzzi led the U.S. government negotiations with the European Union (EU) to achieve funding reciprocity between the NIH and the EU. He also worked with the Obama White House to develop an information system to capture the benefits of scientific investments during the Great Recession of 2008. He is one of the leaders who spearheaded the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) to fight the misuse of journal impact factor metric. He contributed to the NIH revision of the peer review system and to the development of the key public access policy for NIH funded research, which started the Open Access movement in scholarly publishing.

Most recently, Bertuzzi led ASM's efforts to address the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This included working directly with the White House COVID-19 Task Force, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to increase access to diagnostic testing supplies and address roadblocks to coronavirus testing. Bertuzzi penned a  and an  outlining testing roadblocks and emphasizing the need for microbiologists and other scientists to support clinical laboratories to help contain the pandemic.

He has authored numerous research publications, editorials and science policy pieces in top journals and is recipient of many national and international awards. Bertuzzi is a thoughtful leader in science, a fellow of the prestigious Aspen Institute and a member of the Cosmos Club. In 2020, the President of the Italian Republic bestowed upon Bertuzzi the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, one of the highest honors in the Italian Republic.

Chris DeCesaris is the Chief Financial Officer for the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½. Prior to joining ASM, he served in various financial positions at National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). He began his career at the public accounting firm Grant Thornton where he served nearly 30 nonprofit clients. He holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Maryland.
 

Melissa Junior serves as the Executive Publisher for the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½ (ASM). As executive publisher, she is overseeing the consolidation of the Society’s 15 journals and ASM Press books under ASM Publishing. She is also leading the transition to a Subscribe to Open (S2O) publishing model for the 2025 subscription year for ASM's 6 subscription journal titles. Junior brings over 30 years of expertise in scientific publishing, including 12 years leading ASM Journals.

Junior graduated with a B.A. in English and French from Dickinson College in 1989. She also received an MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in 2004.

Allen Segal, J.D., is the Chief Strategy and Public Affairs Officer for the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½. Segal joined the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½ in July 2018 as Chief Advocacy Officer. In his current capacity, he is responsible for overseeing ASM’s communications, public and policymaker engagement and Governance activities.

In addition to his role as part of ASM’s executive leadership team, Segal is the President-Elect of the Coalition for Health Funding, the oldest and largest nonprofit alliance working to preserve and strengthen public health in the U.S. He also served on the board of directors for ScienceCounts, an organization dedicated to enhancing public awareness and support for scientific research.

Segal joined ASM after 7 years with the Society for Neuroscience, where he served as Senior Director, Policy and Member programs. In that capacity, he oversaw departments responsible for the bulk of SfN’s programmatic functions, including advocacy and animals in research activities, as well as the development of a scientific training program. Prior to joining SfN, Segal served as the Director of Federal Affairs for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. He also developed expertise in federal budget and appropriations work while advocating for the American Cancer Society. He began his career in government relations working on federal employee and postal issues for the National Association of Letter Carriers and served as federal legislative director at the National Association of Home Builders.

Segal holds a Juris Doctor from the American University, Washington College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in American Government from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is also a Certified Association of Executive (CAE).

Kimberly "Kim" Shankle serves as the Chief People and Change Management Officer for the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½ (ASM). In her current role, she is responsible for overseeing ASM’s overall human capital strategy that includes the staff and member stakeholders within the functional areas of leadership development, member and talent acquisition, career and professional development, IDEAA—inclusive diversity with equity, access and accountability (IDEAA)—and supporting the organization in its journey of promoting and advancing the microbial sciences at the intersection of science and society. Kim's oversight of ethics and organizational marketing captures the scientific integrity science and society need for an effective partnership.

Kim is currently supporting the activities and efforts of the Academy, ASM's honorific leadership on an interim basis.

Janet Hedrick joined the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½ (ASM) in June 2017 as the Director, Membership & Engagement. She has worked exclusively for non-profit associations during her career, previously serving as the Director, Member Services with the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA).
 
Hedrick has 20+ years as an association executive working on membership engagement, marketing, fundraising and data management strategies. She has spearheaded the development of creative membership and volunteer programs, managed committee and chapter relations and guided the systems implementation of numerous association software platforms. She has an undergraduate degree in International Relations and Spanish from Virginia Tech. 
 

Irene Hulede is the Director of Education at the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½. In her role, she is responsible for developing strategic goals to advance education, professional and career development in the microbial sciences, and executing policies and practices to achieve its goals. She oversees the development and implementation of ASM education initiatives and helps lead ASM efforts that promote a culture of inclusion to achieve diversity in science.

She is co-principal investigator of ASM’s signature STEM conference, the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS), principal investigator of ASM MOSAIC Program and serves on national external advisory committees of several organizations including the National Summer Undergraduate Research Project (NSURP), Understanding Inventions and the Leadership Alliance.

Prior to joining ASM, Hulede held several positions at Bentley University, Student Affairs Division, where she led university wide student and faculty development programs. She was instrumental in launching diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Bentley University.

She holds a B.S. degree in economics-finance and a certificate in human resources management from Bentley University, Waltham, Mass. She joined the ASM Education Department in 1994.

 

Wes Kim, Ph.D., is the Director of ASM's Global Public Health Programs, which build microbiology laboratory capacity in low-resource settings. Prior to joining ASM, Kim was a senior program officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where he led policy and advocacy initiatives to address challenges in antimicrobial resistance drug discovery.

Kim also spent 10 years as a management consultant at PRTM/PwC, supporting his clients in business strategy and operations in pharma/life sciences and global public health including business development, portfolio management, strategic partnerships, market assessments and product development.

Kim obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and his MBA from the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Amy Kullas, Ph.D., is the American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½ (ASM)'s Director, Ethics. Kullas is responsible for oversight and management of ASM's organizational ethics policies and procedures program. She oversees and facilitates the reporting process, discussions and resolution of allegations relating to science ethics, misconduct and harassment. Kullas came to ASM from the National Institutes of Health, where she had been an intramural research fellow with the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and °®¶¹´«Ã½ from Stony Brook University.

Anirban Mahapatra, Ph.D., joined American Society for °®¶¹´«Ã½ (ASM) as Editorial Director of scientific journals in 2022. His professional goals are to grow diverse scientific communities, to help scientists share research advances and to communicate how science benefits the planet and humanity. Prior to joining ASM, Mahapatra led an editorial team at American Chemical Society that oversaw the business and editorial targets for portfolio of scientific journals spanning multiple disciplines. In a career spanning 15+ years in scientific publishing, he has proposed and launched 15 scientific journals, including ACS Synthetic Biology, a PROSE Award winner, ACS Infectious Diseases, and 7 ACS Applied Materials journals. He has also spearheaded global outreach efforts and collaborative alliances with scientific institutions in India and China that have led to joint meetings and partnered journals.

Mahapatra is passionate about bridging the gap between scientific research and public awareness. He is a published author and an engaging speaker who has provided insight in print, audio and on TV for numerous international news platforms. As an acknowledged expert, his writing appears in multiple media outlets.

In his scientific career, Mahapatra's research led to a landmark biological discovery of an expanded genetic code, influencing textbooks and offering potential for future applications in medicine and chemistry. He received his Ph.D. and master’s degrees in microbiology from The Ohio State University.

Dr. Nguyen K. Nguyen joined ASM as the Director, American Academy of °®¶¹´«Ã½ in August 2019. Before ASM, Nguyen was the Associate Director for Science & Practice Programs at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) where he served for three years to bring together clinical laboratory scientists to pioneer scientific programs at AACC.
 
Before AACC, Nguyen was the Partnership Development and Relations Manager at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR).  In this role, Nguyen managed the partnership mechanism to foster scientific collaboration and transfer technologies and expertise of the National Laboratory to the scientific & business communities. Nguyen also directed the Visiting Scholar Program to bring in prominent researchers to FNLCR to exchange expertise. At the beginning of his career, Nguyen was selected as a Science & Technology Policy Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He served as the Futures Advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) working on strategic planning, foresight research, and data analytics.
 
Nguyen received his Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and his B.S. degree at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
 

Sharon Oluga is the ASM Controller and manages all aspects of accounting, as well as audit and tax. Her experience spans across the private and public accounting sector, where she began her accounting career with a focus on non-profits, both domestic and multinational. Her experience in public accounting exposed her to various kinds of tax-exempt entities in international development, education, public health, disaster relief, etc. Prior to joining ASM, she served as a Senior Director of Financial Reporting at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Sharon holds a bachelor's degree from Towson University and an M.B.A. from the University of Baltimore and is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Maryland.

Jennifer Tomb joined the ASM Meetings Department in Sept. 2015. Prior to ASM, she directed scientific programs and meetings operations at the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Tomb has over 20 years of experience in the meetings industry. 

Tomb received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE), Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and Certified Exposition Manager (CEM).
 

Nancy Wamburu, M.S., has a master’s degree in microbiology and immunology from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, where her thesis centered on the impact that antibiotics administered to food animals have on antibiotic resistance in humans.

Wamburu has been working in clinical microbiology for the past 16 years, both in hospital and reference laboratories, where her main areas of interest have been nosocomial infections, antimicrobial resistance and infection prevention. Her most recent experience has been with start-up laboratories, providing technical oversight for diagnostic testing and pursuing accreditations/licensing from the College of American Pathologists and other agencies.