Joe Lutkenhaus, Ph.D, is a Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He received a B.S. in organic chemistry from Iowa state University and then a PhD in biochemistry for the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his PhD, Lutkenhaus pursued his postodoctoral studies with William Donachie at Edinburgh University and then continued at the University of Connecticut Health Science center. In 2002, Dr. Lutkenhaus became a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.He received Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize in 2012.