Sita Awasthi is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine Infectious Disease Division at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA. She earned her PhD from Devi Ahilya University Indore, India. She has published over 20 peer reviewed papers and was co-author of book chapters and reports. She was the President of Association of Women in Science AWIS Philadelphia chapter. She is an active member of International Society of Vaccines. She has served as a reviewer of peer reviewed journals in the area of vaccine and virology.

Vaccine development against infectious disease in general, Pre-clinical development of vaccine against HSV-2 and HSV-1, Spread and pathogenesis of HSV-1/HSV-2, Evasion of host immunity by viruses, HSV-2-HIV co-infection.