Dr. Gumperz is a Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She received a B.A. in Biology with Honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz, then completed her Ph.D. at Stanford University under the mentorship of Dr. Peter Parham investigating NK cell recognition of HLA molecules. During her postdoctoral studies at Harvard University in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Brenner she turned her attention to investigating innate T lymphocytes, which has been the central focus of her research ever since. Dr. Gumperz joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin in 2003, where her lab uses murine xenotransplantation models to dissect biological pathways engaged by human innate T cells in vivo. Current lines of research center on leveraging interactions between iNKT cells and monocytes or monocyte-derived DCs to generate immunotherapeutic outcomes for hematopoietic transplantation and Ovarian Cancer.