Rate My Professor Kristen Bernard

Kristen A. Bernard is Professor of Virology and Chair of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She earned a B.A. summa cum laude in Physiology from the University of California-Berkeley, D.V.M. from the University of California-Davis, M.S. and Ph.D. in Veterinary Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Dr. Bernard's research centers on the pathogenesis of arthropod-borne viruses, particularly flaviviruses such as West Nile virus (WNV) and Zika virus. Her work examines virus-host interactions, mechanisms of virulence and attenuation, effects on immune and nervous systems, mosquito-virus-vertebrate host dynamics including enhancement by mosquito saliva, and development of therapies and vaccines. She employs molecular virologic techniques with in vitro and in vivo models, directs the Veterinary Virology course for second-year veterinary students, delivers lectures in the School of Veterinary Medicine and across UW-Madison, and has trained numerous graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and research personnel.

Key publications include "Structure and function of flavivirus NS5 methyltransferase" (2007, Journal of Virology), "An adenosine nucleoside inhibitor of dengue virus" (2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), "Mosquitoes inoculate high doses of West Nile virus as they probe and feed on live hosts" (2007, PLoS Pathogens), "Growth and adaptation of Zika virus in mammalian and mosquito cells" (2018, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases), "Mosquito cell-derived West Nile virus replicon particles mimic arbovirus inoculum and have reduced spread in mice" (2017, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases), and "Parameters of mosquito-enhanced West Nile virus infection" (2016, Journal of Virology). Dr. Bernard served as President of the American Society for Virology, was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2020, and received the Renk Distinguished Professor Award in 2024.