Elizabeth Winzeler

Elizabeth Ann Winzeler is an American microbiologist and geneticist. She is a professor in the Division of Host-Microbe Systems and Therapeutics of the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Diego. Although she works in a variety of different disease areas, most research focuses on developing better medicines for the treatment and eradication of malaria.

Early life and education Winzeler is the daughter of anthropologist, Robert L. Winzeler. She grew up in Reno, Nevada, and attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. She received her B.A. in Natural Sciences and Art in 1984. After college, she worked as a professional programmer and systems analyst and developed methods for studying parasite genetic variation and genome evolution especially in relationship to the emergence of drug resistance. She is also known for developing phenotypic screening methods as well as contributions to drug development and Open Source Drug Discovery. and Cipargamin (KAE609). an international consortium that seeks to develop better treatments for malaria. She is a member of the governing board of the Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation .

Awards and honors Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Global Infectious Disease 2001 W. M. Keck Foundation New Scholar Award 2004 Howard T. Ricketts Symposium Lecture 2013 Bailey K. Ashford Medal American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) 2014 Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology 2017 Alice and C. C. Wang in Molecular Parasitology 2018 William Trager Award on behalf of ASTMH and the American Committee of Molecular, Cellular and Immunoparasitology 2018 Ruth Sonntag Nussenzweig Memorial Symposium 2019 United Arab Emirates Crown Prince, Reaching the Last Mile Finalist 2019 Rady Children's Hospital Awards of Excellence in Basic Research 2020 UCSD Health Science Women Leadership Award 2020 Elected to the National Academy of Medicine 2021 Elected to the National Academy of Sciences 2025