Sima Tokajian
Dr. Sima Tokajian is Professor of Microbial Genomics at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Since joining LAU in 2005, she has advanced a robust research agenda in microbial genomics, emphasizing the molecular epidemiology, pathogenesis, and resistance mechanisms of clinically significant bacterial pathogens.
Dr. Tokajian earned her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 2003 and holds an M.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Jordan. Her academic training laid the foundation for an interdisciplinary research program that integrates bacterial genomics, metagenomics, bioinformatics, and microbiome analysis to investigate pressing issues in infectious disease. Her research interests span genome evolution, microbial population dynamics, antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, and the functional consequences of pathogen diversity.
Currently, her work is primarily focused on the genomic characterization of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with an emphasis on the ESKAPE group: Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp. These pathogens are among the most formidable causes of healthcare-associated infections worldwide due to their ability to resist multiple antibiotic classes. Dr. Tokajian's investigations target the genetic contexts of resistance elements, the structure and dissemination of mobile genetic elements, and the clonal spread of epidemic lineages across clinical and environmental reservoirs.
Abstracts this author is presenting: