Victoria Brown-Kennerly

Victoria Brown-Kennerly is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences within the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Webster University in St. Louis. She teaches undergraduate courses in biology and genetics while coordinating the emphasis for both BA and BS degree programs.

Her research focuses on hands-on undergraduate projects in phage discovery, insect behavior, DNA barcoding, and gene expression studies. As a core participant in the HHMI Science Education Alliance-Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program, she integrates wet-lab microbiology and computational genomics into curricula, utilizing hosts like Microbacterium foliorum and Mycobacterium smegmatis to train students in phage isolation and bioinformatics analysis.

Dr. Brown-Kennerly has mentored 46 students across five SEA-PHAGES sections from 2017–2019, spanning both in situ (phage discovery) and in silico (genomics/bioinformatics) components. Her courses consistently serve diverse cohorts including freshmen through seniors, with structured weekly sessions totaling 3–4 hours per section.