Infectious Disease
As COVID has underlined anew, infectious disease presents a huge health threat both globally and locally. The World Health Organization estimates that infectious diseases are responsible for about 1 out of every 5 years of healthy life lost due to disease or disability.
This burden falls most heavily on the countries in the bottom half of the global income distribution. As a result, most infectious diseases and the organisms that cause them receive little attention from large pharmaceutical companies and the wealthy countries that have the research and clinical capacity to develop new treatments for these diseases.
UCSC faculty are working on viral, bacterial and other infectious organisms with goals of understanding how they cause disease, and how the associated health burdens can be treated, reduced and prevented.
David Fielding Boyd
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
- Campus Email

Manel Camps
- Pronouns
- he, him, his, his, himself
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
- Campus Email
Susan B Carpenter
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
- Campus Email
Russell Brendan Corbett-Detig
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Biomolecular Engineering
- Campus Email
Omar Eduardo Cornejo Ordaz
- Pronouns
- he, him, his, his, himself
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Evolution
Valerie Crystal Cortez
- Pronouns
- she, her, her, hers, herself
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
- Campus Email

Jennifer L Derr
- Pronouns
- she/they
- Title
- Associate Professor; Founding Director, Center for the Middle East and North Africa at UC Santa Cruz
- Department
- History Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Disease and Immunity
Rebecca Dubois
- Pronouns
- she, her, her, hers, herself
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Biomolecular Engineering
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Bioengineering
Lars Fehren-Schmitz
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Anthropology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Ancient DNA
Grant A Hartzog
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
- Campus Email
Auston Marmaduke Kilpatrick
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Conservation
Jacqueline Kimmey
- Pronouns
- she, her, her, hers, herself
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Microbiology
Regina D Langhout
- Pronouns
- she, her, her, hers, herself
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Psychology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Community-based Research
Audrie Lin
- Pronouns
- she, her, her, hers, herself
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Health and Wellness
John MacMillan
- Title
- Vice Chancellor for Research
- Department
- Chemistry & Biochemistry Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Chemical Biology
Karen M Ottemann
- Pronouns
- she/hers
- Title
- Professor and Chair
- Department
- Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Microbiology
Michael Louis Patnode
- Pronouns
- he, him, his, his, himself
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
- Campus Email
Justin Perez
- Pronouns
- he/him
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- Latin American & Latino Studies
- Campus Email
Jeremy R Sanford
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
- Campus Email

Matthew B Sparke
- Pronouns
- he, him
- Title
- Distinguished Professor of Politics
- Department
- Politics Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Capitalism
Victoria A Stone
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Microbiology
William Sullivan
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
- Campus Email

Anjuli Verma
- Title
- Assistant Professor of Politics
- Department
- Politics Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Law and Policy
Jordan Ward
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
- Campus Email

Ahmet A Yanik
- Title
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Electrical Engineering
Fitnat Yildiz
- Pronouns
- she/her
- Title
- Associate Dean of Research & Research Impact | PBSci Division Distinguished Professor
- Department
- Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
- Campus Email

Martha C Zuniga
- Pronouns
- she, her, her, hers, herself
- Title
- Professor
- Department
- Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
- Campus Email
- Faculty Areas of Expertise
- Cell Biology
