Dr. Bayless earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Kansas State University in 2014. She continued her clinical training with a rigorous internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital and completed specialty training in large animal internal medicine during a combined residency/master’s program at Colorado State University, culminating in board certification by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Large Animal) in 2019. As a PhD student in Comparative Biomedical Sciences at North Carolina State University, Dr. Bayless’ doctoral research focused on novel approaches to improve diagnosis and treatment of inflammation, including equine clinical biomarker studies and in vitro neutrophil experiments. After finishing her PhD in 2022, Dr. Bayless joined faculty at North Carolina State University as an Assistant Research Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Clinical Sciences. In 2023, she began her tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, studying neutrophil-mediated diseases that affect veterinary and human patients. The overall goal of Dr. Bayless’ research program is to improve strategies for treating neutrophil-mediated diseases, using a 2-pronged approach: 1) identification of innovative therapeutic targets (neutrophil pathobiology) and 2) development of novel drug candidates. Her laboratory leverages the strengths of in vitro models and spontaneously occurring disease to span basic science, translational, and clinical research. Dr. Bayless is also a Visiting Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and collaborates with several researchers within the UNC School of Medicine and the NC State/UNC Lampe Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering.  (Board term ends June 30, 2029)