Fatima joined the Kwon Lab as a Research Fellow in May 2020 to study the female genital tract microbiome from an evolutionary ecology perspective. For her PhD, she studied bacteriophage-driven evolution of marine microbes with Martin Polz at MIT. Her previous work focused on near-term resistance evolution to lytic phages in bacteria of the genus Vibrio, and the role of lysogenic phages in shaping Vibrio genomic diversity. She applies the same framework in her postdoctoral work to determine how ecological interactions, both phage-bacteria and bacteria-bacteria, drive the intra-species evolutionary dynamics of Lactobacillus populations in the vagina. Ultimately, she aims to use her research to design ecologically-informed microbial therapeutics for women’s health. Prior to becoming a microbiologist, Fatima studied Environmental Engineering and Women’s and Gender Studies at MIT and Stanford. In her free time, she enjoys hosting dinner parties, culturing sourdough, yoga, and gardening.