SUMMARY
The research interests of Bobbi S. Pritt, M.D., are in clinical parasitology, vector-borne diseases and the pathology of infectious diseases.
Focus areas
As director of the Clinical Parasitology Laboratory in Mayo Clinic's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Dr. Pritt has coordinated the development of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for multiple tick- and mosquito-borne pathogens such as Plasmodium knowlesi, Borrelia mayonii, Borrelia miyamotoi, Powassan virus and chikungunya virus.
She has also developed a multiplex PCR assay for the major human pathogenic microsporidia species that cause diarrhea and disseminated infections. Most recently, Dr. Pritt has directed multiple research efforts to characterize two novel tick-borne pathogens that infect humans in the upper Midwest region of the United States.
Significance to patient care
Dr. Pritt's work has resulted in the implementation of rapid and highly sensitive molecular tests for important human infections, including malaria, microsporidiosis, Lyme disease and Borrelia miyamotoi infection. Malaria in particular is a potentially fatal disease and a leading cause of infant mortality worldwide. In the U.S., malaria is most commonly seen in individuals who have traveled to or emigrated from endemic areas such as parts of Africa, Asia and South America.
Dr. Pritt also played a key role in discovering and describing two new tick-borne pathogens. In 2011 she described an Ehrlichia muris-like bacterium which has been officially named Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis, and in 2016 she described a novel borrelia species (Borrelia mayonii), which causes Lyme disease. Both pathogens appear to be limited to the upper Midwest region of the United States.
Professional highlights
- Chair, Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, 2020-present
- Recipient, Distinguished Patient Care Award, College of American Pathologists, 2020
- Editor, Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 2019-present
- President (2016-2017) and secretary (2019-present), Binford-Dammin Society of Infectious Disease Pathologists
- Vice chair for education, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, 2014-2020
- Recipient, Teacher of the Year Award, Clinical Pathology, Mayo Clinic, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019
- Recipient, Distinguished Educator Award, Mayo Clinic, 2018
- Recipient, Early Achievement Award, University of Vermont College of Medicine, 2016
- President, American Society for Microbiology, Division AA's: Free-Living, Symbiotic and Parasitic Protists, 2015-2016
- Recipient, Excellence in Teaching Award, College of American Pathologists, 2015
- Member, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Rickettsiology Working Group, 2014
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Innovation & Leadership Award in Education, Mayo Clinic, 2013
- Member, CDC Parasitic Diseases Diagnostic Program, Blue Ribbon Panel, 2012
- Mayo Clinic Scholar, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2007-2008