Michele S. Swanson

Michele S. Swanson is an American biologist who is a professor of microbiology at the University of Michigan. She has investigated the water-borne pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Swanson is interested in the metabolic cues that underpin the virulence of L. pneumophila and how it is transmitted to humans. She served as president of the American Society for Microbiology from 2018-2019. Her father was the first member of his family to attend university. She was a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts Medical Center, where she first became interested in Legionella pneumophila.

Research and career In 1996, Swanson joined the faculty at the University of Michigan.

Academic service Swanson serves as the director of postdoctoral studies at the University of Michigan Medical School and was a part of the President's Advisory Commission on Women's Issues at the University of Michigan. and hosts the ASM podcast This Week in Microbiology. She was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019.

Selected publications