Emerging, Zoonotic & Other Infectious Diseases Signature Program
The Emerging, Zoonotic and Other Infectious Diseases signature program aims to develop new systems for monitoring, detecting, and diagnosing infectious diseases and investigating host-pathogen interactions, particularly newly emerging diseases and those that are transmissible between animals and humans. New infectious diseases are emerging across the globe at an alarming rate, as the pathogens that we once had well controlled re-emerge today. We also face the threat of intentionally introduced biological agents. Beyond the health implications of the diseases themselves, naturally occurring and intentionally introduced infectious agents can destabilize populations, economies, and governments. Changes in land use practices are in part, to blame for this burgeoning problem. Changes in land use mean new patterns of animal movement and more frequent human-animal interactions; the increased contact means an increase in the likelihood of infectious disease transmission. Approximately 75% of all emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases are transmissible between humans and animals.
Steering Committee
Faculty Experts
Alvin Beitz
David Brown
Maxim Cheeran
James Collins
Meggan Craft
Marie Culhane
Peter Davies
Connie Gebhart
Sandra Godden
Sagar Goyal
Karin Hamilton
Yinduo Ji
Timothy Johnson
Sandra Koch
Larissa Minicucci
Michael Murtaugh
Katey Pelican
David Polzin
Julia Ponder
Kent Reed
Mark Rutherford
Randall Singer
Pamela Skinner
Montse Torremorell
Dominic Travis
Scott Wells
Zheng Xing