H Steven (Hank) Seifert
John Edward Porter Professor of Biomedical Research in the Department of Microbiology-Immunology, Feinberg School or Medicine
Hank Seifert has been a member of Feinberg faculty for 36 years. His research studying the evolution of infectious agents of health concern, in particular microbes such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae, has earned him honors and accolades in his field, in which he is seen as a leader.
During his career, which he has spent entirely at Northwestern, Seifert has trained 18 Ph.D. students and 18 post-doctoral students and served on Ph.D. thesis committees for over 75 students. He was named Feinberg’s 2011 Mentor of the Year thanks to his drive to support young faculty as they built their research programs. Seifert was also the director of the Feinberg Integrated Graduate Program (now the Driscol Graduate Program), Northwestern’s second-largest Ph.D. program.
As associate dean of student and postdoctoral affairs at The Graduate School, Seifert made it his mission to amplify recognition of post-doctoral students for their contributions in research and build upon training experiences of post-docs at Northwestern.
Seifert has additionally taken on challenging service roles including engaged membership in the Faculty Senate and University Senate Executive Committee, working on committees that rewrote the faculty handbook, the research committee and faculty rights and responsibilities committee.