I am an evolutionary and computational biologist working on applied issues in translational medicine. My research focuses on the molecular and epidemiological dynamics of microbes related to human illnesses and how these microbes interact with their hosts during health and disease. Towards this goal, I use a systems biology approach to integrate genomic, metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data from microbial communities (bacterial, viral and fungal microbiotas), including pathogens, with transcriptomic, clinical and demographic data from their human hosts. I have a broad background in biology with an emphasis on molecular and computational biology, and specific training and expertise in next-generation sequencing technologies and bioinformatics. My current research focuses in two areas: molecular epidemiology of HIV and systems biology of host-microbe interactions in pediatric asthma. My long-term goals are to establish a network of partners with different expertise to understand the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of human microbial pathogens, improve on current strategies for monitoring and controlling HIV transmission, and develop more efficient treatments and classifications for asthma. Such integrative systems biology is readily transferable to other emerging and respiratory diseases such as HCV or bronchiolitis, respectively, and the comparison could lead to valuable horizontal insights.