Rebecca Vega Thurber

Rebecca Vega Thurber is an American microbial ecologist and coral reef scientist. She is the Pernot distinguished chair of microbiology at Oregon State University since 2020. She is a team leader of the Tara Pacific expedition and co-producer of the coral reef documentary “Saving Atlantis”.
Early years and education.
Vega Thurber was born in year in 1975, to Eduardo Luis Vega and Patricia Ann Vega in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Her father was a medical doctor that immigrated into the U.S. from the Dominican Republic. Her mother is a retired nurse. Vega Thurber grew up in Tucson, Arizona. She graduated from The Gregory high school. She received a dual BA degree in Marine Biology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from The University of California in Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University under the supervision of David Epel.
Scientific career.
Vega Thurber was awarded a US National Science Foundation Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue postdoctoral research at San Diego State University under the supervision of Forest Rohwer in coral virology and microbiology. Her first faculty appointment was as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Florida International University. She subsequently moved to Oregon State also as an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, where is an associate professor holding the Pernot distinguished chair. 
Research.
Vega Thurber started her research career as a developmental biologist studying apoptosis in early embryogenesis in the model invertebrate organism, the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. It was during her postdoctoral years, when she switched her focus to coral reef science and coral viruses and bacteria in particular. She uncovered that corals contain unique assemblages of viruses that are involved mediating coral reef health. In those early years, Vega Thurber adopted the use genomic and bioinformatic approaches to her research enabling metagenome and microbiome-based inferences. As a faculty member she expanded collaborations with marine ecologists, Deron Burkepile, Erinn Muller among others. Those collaborations led to the discovery of major roles microbial assemblages play in coral reef environments. Her standing as a world expert in coral microbiology led her to be appointed as a one of the lead scientists of the Tara Pacific Expedition. Vega Thurber is a member of the NSF Long Term Ecological Research Network in Moorea, Tahiti.
Mentorship.
Vega Thurber has mentored 10 Ph.D. students and 8 postdocs that include Jesse Zaneveld, Adrienne Simoes Correa. She has mentored dozens of undergraduate students in marine microbiology.