Jeniel Nett, MD, PhD

Education

• University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health – MD
• University of Wisconsin–Madison – PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology
• University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics – Residency in Internal Medicine
• University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics – Fellowship in Infectious Disease

Professional Activities

Dr. Jeniel Nett is a faculty member in the Division of Infectious Disease within the Department of Medicine. She is a course lecturer for the UW–Madison Graduate School and UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), and a faculty advisor for the SMPH Infectious Diseases Interest Group. Dr. Nett has served on the NIH/CDC/IDSA committee to develop guidelines for the prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections in HIV-infected adults and adolescents (Candidiasis). She is also an editorial board member for Scientific Reports and Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, an associate editor for Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, and a reviewer for over 20 scientific journals. Dr. Nett has received a UW–Madison Vilas Faculty Early Career Investigator Award and an American Medical Women’s Association Exceptional Mentor Award. 

Clinical Specialties        

Dr. Nett specializes in the management of infectious diseases in adults.

Research Interests

Dr. Nett’s research focuses on the host response to biofilm infections, with the goal of devising new approaches for diagnosis and treatment of these common infections. Patients with indwelling medical devices, such as venous catheters, are at risk for invasive disease caused by various fungal and bacterial pathogens. In these patients, organisms adhere to the device surface and proliferate as a biofilm of resilient cells encased in an extracellular matrix. As the host immune system and conventional anti-infectives are often not capable of eradicating biofilms, these infections can have devastating consequences. Dr. Nett’s laboratory studies Candida albicans, the most common nosocomial fungal pathogen, and Candida auris, a recently emergent drug-resistant species.