Dr. Maureen Laroche is a Medical Entomologist and Clinical Bacteriologist from Martinique. She received a BSc in Clinical Bacteriology from Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University, an MSc in Control of Infectious Diseases, and a PhD in Medical Entomology from Aix-Marseille University in France. She then worked in Senegal and Kenya for a few years before moving to Galveston, Texas, where she holds an appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology of the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Dr. Laroche is one of the pioneers in the use of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for the surveillance of vector-borne diseases and a leading scientist in this field in the United States. She also has extensive experience in the development of bacterial mass spectrometry databases for further characterization beyond species identification (serotypes, antibiotic resistance, etc.).
The remainder of her research is focused on the eco-epidemiology and management of vector-borne bacterial diseases in neglected communities. This includes several projects such as i) the characterization of the burden of Bartonelloses in the U.S. and the study of the virulence of neglected Bartonella species; ii) the evaluation of spillover risk from bats and rodents in rural and peri-urban regions of Latin America; iii) the (re)emergence of Q Fever in the U.S. and in rural areas of the Global South.
Dr. Laroche has a long track record as an educator, as she has been involved in the development and teaching of courses focused on molecular biology, mass spectrometry, medical entomology, and field epidemiology. Currently, she is the director of the UTMB’s International Field Epidemiology Course which takes place in Senegal and Peru and teaches trainees how to respond to an outbreak. She is passionate about International Public Health and capacity strengthening, which is illustrated by the diversity of trainees in her group (Peru, Colombia, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, France, and the US).