Faculty Research Interests

The Research Program of the Faculty as a whole is not narrowly focused in one area of Infectious Diseases, but spans many of the modern issues of basic, translational and clinical research. The major strength of the Program is the uniquely interdisciplinary training environment provided by the close interactions, collaborations and cooperation of the Faculty.

Faculty Research interests can be sub-categorized into 5 themes: Pathogenesis of Bacterial and Fungal Infections, Immune Response to Infections, Parasitology and International Medicine, Virology, and Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases. The division of the research interests into themes is of course to some extent artificial, and faculty interactions and collaborations are not restricted to other investigators within that theme. This is perhaps best appreciated by the fact that 11/26 faculty have research interests encompassing 2 or more themes.

Research within the "Pathogenesis of Bacterial and Fungal Infections" has an emphasis on toxins of respiratory and enteropathogens (Casanova, Guerrant, Hewlett, Obrig, and Smith), and microbial pathogen cell surface and transport (Casanova, Goldberg, Guerrant, Hazen, and Pearson).

"Immune Response to Infections" includes emphasis on mucosal immunology (Petri, Braciale, Engelhard, Fu, Obrig, Smith), immunopathogenesis of infections (Petri, Braciale,  Hahn, Hammarskjold, Obrig, Ravichandran, Roberts and Smith), and T cell activation (Braciale, Engelhard, Fu, Hahn, Ravichandran and Roberts).

"Parasitology and International Medicine" is more narrowly focused on enteropathogens of importance in the developing world, an interest shared by all 3 investigators (Petri, Guerrant, Mann).

"Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases" encompasses a highly interactive group of faculty with interests in infections in the hospital (Guerrant, Knaus) and the developing world (Petri, Guerrant).

Finally the "Pathogenesis and Therapy of Viral Infections" includes emphasis on respiratory viral infections (Braciale, Hayden and White), HIV (Hammarskjold, Ravichandran and Rekosh), and viral modulation of the immune system (Braciale,  Hahn, Hammarskjold, Kedes and Ravichandran).

The training mentors have been chosen based on three criteria. First they are proven investigators with independently funded research programs. Second they are committed to research training and are active and successful preceptors of graduate and/or postdoctoral trainees. Third, their research focus fits within the programmatic theme of infectious diseases research. These criteria result in the majority of the preceptors being established senior investigators with an extensive track record of predoctoral and postdoctoral training. However it is important for the future of infectious diseases research at the University of Virginia that the program be open to younger investigators who are independently funded and productive in their research. For this reason five junior-level faculty (Drs. Hahn, Kedes, Roberts and Smith) are included as preceptors. The training mentors for the Infectious Diseases Program have been selected not only on the theme of their research but on their proven track record of training and their ability to obtain extramural funding. Thus, fellows in this Program have an excellent opportunity to participate and be trained in research by a successful scientist who is committed to the education of postdoctoral fellows. The faculty is highly interactive, as judged by the frequency of dual mentoring of trainees, joint grant applications, and co-publications. All of the preceptors have established track records for training predoctoral and/or postdoctoral students. Active research support for each faculty member:

  • 92% (24/26) of the faculty are NIH supported
  • $13.5 million dollars in extramural annual direct costs
  • $450,000/faculty member median extramural support
  • $800,000 intramural support of hospital epidemiology