Dr. Axthelm completed his D.V.M. degree and pathology residency program at Kansas State University and is a board-certified veterinary anatomic pathologist. He then went to the Ohio State University for postdoctoral training and received his Ph.D. in viral pathogenesis degree in 1985. He was an assistant professor at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine until joining the Primate Research Center staff in 1986. Currently, Dr. Axthelm is an associate scientist in the Division of Pathobiology and Immunology, Oregon National Primate Research Center, and Senior Scientist in the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute.

Current research projects include 1) investigation of the role of T cell dynamics in simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection, and delineation of viral mechanisms of pathogenesis targeting these dynamics, 2) development of rhesus cytomegalovirus-vectored vaccines for SIV, 3) evaluating mucosal vaccine strategies against SIV/HIV, 4) vaccine strategies for emerging viral and bacterial diseases and 5) identification and characterization of new viral agents and viral-associated disease states in nonhuman primates, which currently include spontaneous multiple sclerosis-like demyelinating encephalomyelitis associated with a novel gammma-2 herpesvirus, and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in immunosuppressed macaques associated with variant simian virus 40 polyomavirus.