The mission of the Department of Infectious Diseases is to: - Educate graduate and professional students about the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and control of bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic diseases, with an emphasis on protecting human and animal health. - Train graduate and professional students in advanced technologies and interdisciplinary approaches to understand, prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases, including emerging and re-emerging infections that threaten human health. - Develop and translate innovative technologies and approaches for the prevention, diagnosis, and control of infectious diseases, with the goal of improving human health and advancing the health and welfare of animals. - Conduct innovative research to understand microbial pathogenesis, the molecular biology of microbial and parasitic pathogens, host–pathogen interactions, and the mechanisms of innate and adaptive immunity.
The Department of Infectious Diseases offers graduate training leading to a PhD in Infectious Diseases. The department's diverse graduate faculty provide expertise in molecular virology, pathogenic bacteriology, classical and molecular parasitology, vaccinology, vector biology, disease modeling, epidemiology, and immunology. Faculty research encompasses a broad range of infectious diseases affecting humans and animals, including emerging and zoonotic pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, viral and bacterial pathogenesis, host–pathogen interactions, vaccine development, and mechanisms of immunity. This breadth provides students with opportunities to study infectious diseases from molecular and cellular mechanisms through population-level transmission and disease prevention.
Students with BS, MS, or DVM degrees are eligible to pursue doctoral training. The department also participates in the Master of Comparative Biomedical Sciences (CBS) program, which offers a master's degree with opportunities for study in infectious diseases. The Department of Infectious Diseases participates in the University of Georgia's Integrated Life Sciences (ILS) program and relies on the program for recruitment of graduate students. Prospective students interested in infectious disease research should apply through the Integrated Life Sciences program.
Graduate education in the Department of Infectious Diseases is inherently interdisciplinary and draws on courses and expertise across the University of Georgia. Students take courses offered by the Department of Infectious Diseases as well as departments within the College of Veterinary Medicine, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The department incorporates expertise from statistics and computer science, particularly in epidemiology, disease modeling, and quantitative approaches to infectious disease research. Appropriate courses from these departments are incorporated into individual students' programs of study.
Training and research are further strengthened through collaborations with other departments within the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Poultry Diagnostic Research Center, and regional and federal research facilities. These collaborations provide students with opportunities to engage in multidisciplinary research addressing infectious diseases across molecular, cellular, clinical, and population levels, with a strong focus on diseases of importance to human health. Through this interdisciplinary approach, the Department of Infectious Diseases prepares graduate students to address current and emerging challenges in infectious disease research and to contribute to the development of new diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, and prevention strategies that improve human and animal health.
Director of Graduate Studies Dr. Melinda Brindley, Professor mbrindle@uga.edu 706-542-5796 Graduate Program Advisor/Graduate Program Administrator Jessi Moss jart@uga.edu https://vet.uga.edu/education/academic-departments/infectious-diseases/