
Carla Schwan
She didn’t realize it at the time, but Carla Schwan’s passion for food microbiology began in a hospital bed in rural Brazil. At just 12 years old, Schwan’s predicament began with what she originally thought was just a stomachache from an undercooked hamburger. When her condition worsened, doctors eventually realized she had ingested contaminated beef that led to a potentially lethal bacterial infection called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.