Michael Edmund Watson, MD, PhD

Dr. Watson is a member of the Divisions of Pediatric Hospital Medicine and Pediatric Infectious Diseases. As a St. Louis native, Dr. Watson completed residency training in Pediatrics and fellowship training in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University prior to joining the University of Michigan in 2013. Dr. Watson participates in the clinical care of hospitalized infants and children, research, and educational activities within the Department of Pediatrics. He is a member of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology

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Dr. Watson conducts research on bacterial and viral pathogens causing infections in infants and children. His lab research focuses on Group A Streptococcus, orStreptococcus pyogenes, a bacterial pathogen capable of causing a wide diversity of superficial and invasive infections, ranging from the relatively common pharyngitis, or “strep throat,” to the less common and more severe necrotizing fasciitis, or “flesh eating disease”. The research seeks to determine how the streptococcal bacteria evade or disable the host immune response to infection. Findings from this research may ultimately identify novel mechanisms to produce immunity against Group A Streptococcus and could eventually help in developing a protective vaccine.