Heather Desaire
University of Kansas
Candidate Statement
I would be thrilled to give back to a society that has been so important to me, both personally and professionally. If elected Treasurer, I'd work to make ASMS even better than it is today by leveraging my budgetary brilliance, my world-class humility, and a strong sense of empathy for all the members of our society. My priorities would be to keep costs low to members, to advocate for increased student support where possible, and to ensure the long-term financial health of the society.
Heather Desaire, B.A. in Chemistry (Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA); Ph.D. in Chemistry (University of California, Berkeley, CA, with Professor Julie Leary.) Associate Scientist, Quintiles, Kansas City, MO. Dr. Desaire is a Professor and the Keith D. Wilner Chair in Chemistry at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
Dr. Desaire’s research interests have evolved since the beginning of her faculty appointment in 2002, but mass spectrometry has always been at the center of her studies. She spent the first part of her career developing MS-based methods to analyze complex PTM’s on viral glycoproteins, providing in-depth analyses of the glycosylation diversity on numerous HIV-1 Env glycoproteins, including those in Phase III clinical trials. Always having an affinity for numbers, she became inspired by the power and potential of machine learning about five years ago and has since developed a new research interest in applying machine learning methods to mass spectrometry data sets, focusing on developing better biomarkers for medically underserved populations. She won an ASMS Research Award in 2006 and has published over a hundred papers.
Dr. Desaire has continually contributed to ASMS and the broader scientific community. She co-organized the 2018 Asilomar conference. She was a Tutorial Lecturer for ASMS in 2020, that fateful year that everyone attended by Zoom. She has been a session chair at several different ASMS meetings, including the 2023 meeting in Houston. A frequent reviewer for grant proposals, Desaire has served on more than 40 NIH review panels throughout her career. Finally, she enjoys mentoring her PhD students, both in science and in obtaining a healthy work-life balance.