Dr. Alcendor completed his doctoral studies in Molecular Virology at UC Davis and his post-graduate studies at the NIH and Johns Hopkins University, in the departments of Molecular Virology and Viral Oncology respectively. Currently he is the Director of Research for the TN CEAL program and a member of the ALA COVID-19 Expert Advisory panel and the ALA Scientific Advisory Board. He was a voting member for both the FDA Antimicrobial and Antiviral Drug Advisory Committees. Currently he is the Program Director for the CEO Roundtable on Cancer at Meharry and has written clinical trial curriculums for training CHWs to improve clinical trial access and participation rates among underserved populations in Tennessee. He is a member of the VICTR Scientific Review committee and the Undiagnosed Disease Network at Vanderbilt. Finally, he is a member of several editorial boards and committees associated with infectious diseases and has been an invited speaker to key national science conferences.