Amariliz Rivera, Ph.D.
Rutgers University, New Jersey Medical School
Amariliz Rivera, Ph.D., earned her B.S. at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and her Ph.D. at Rutgers University Medical School. Since her postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, her research has expanded understanding of how the immune system fights fungal infections. After her training she moved to Rutgers, where she is now a tenured associate professor in the department of pediatrics and a member of the Center for Immunity and Inflammation (CII). Rivera is also the Associate Director of CII.
Her work has delineated fungus-specific CD4 T cell responses and monocyte, monocyte-derived dendritic cell- and neutrophil-mediated innate antifungal immune responses in the context of pulmonary fungal disease. Most recently, her work has uncovered an unexpected role for type III IFNs as critical instructors of antifungal neutrophil responses and identified a novel Cryptococcus-based vaccine strain with broad antifungal activity.
Her career has benefited from the NIH efforts to support diversity training, and she has been the recipient of multiple awards under the NCI-Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD)-Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences. Her research is currently supported by NIAID and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease award.