Dr. Primerano is Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University. He received his B.S. degree from St. Vincent College in 1976 and Ph.D. from Duke University in 1982. He joined the faculty of the Marshall University School of Medicine in 1988 following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Michigan State University.

As Director of the ACoRN, Dr. Primerano oversees research in the genetic susceptibility to cardiovascular disease and the training of the team investigators. Dr. Primerano also serves as the director of the Marshall University Genomics Core Facility which provides gene expression profiling, automated DNA sequencing and genotyping, and real time PCR instrumentation to WV-INBRE investigators. His research interests included the genetic basis of complex traits and methods of DNA damage detection. Dr. Primerano serves as course director and lecturer in the School of Medicine Medical Microbiology, Human Genetics, and Nucleic Acids courses.