Josh Beckham is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Texas Institute for Discovery Education in Science (TIDES). Dr. Beckham earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University after his undergraduate B.S. degree at Washington & Lee University. Having published 3 first author papers in the study of gene expression in relation to the thermal effects of laser-tissue interaction, he currently runs two course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in the Freshman Research Initiative and the Accelerated Research Initiative. These biochemistry courses are collectively called the Virtual Drug Screening stream (a.k.a. Virtual Cures). Dr. Beckham has obtained faculty service awards and a teaching award for his work with students on projects seeking to find potential drug compounds against infectious disease enzymes using both computational methods and biochemical assays.