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.

Victoria Auerbuch Stone

• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
• Campus Email
  • vastone@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Microbiology

David F Boyd

• Title
  • Assistant Professor
• Department
  • Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • dfboyd@ucsc.edu

Manel Camps

• Pronouns
  • he, him, his, his, himself
• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
• Campus Email
  • mcamps@ucsc.edu

Susan Carpenter

• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • sucarpen@ucsc.edu

Russ Corbett-Detig

• Title
  • Associate Professor
• Department
  • Biomolecular Engineering
• Campus Email
  • rucorbet@ucsc.edu

Valerie Cortez

• Pronouns
  • she, her, her, hers, herself
• Title
  • Assistant Professor
• Department
  • Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • vccortez@ucsc.edu

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
  • jderr@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Disease and Immunity

Rebecca DuBois

• Pronouns
  • she, her, her, hers, herself
• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Biomolecular Engineering
• Campus Email
  • rmdubois@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Bioengineering

Lars Fehren-Schmitz

• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Anthropology Department
• Campus Email
  • lfehrens@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Ancient DNA

Grant Hartzog

• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • hartzog@ucsc.edu

Auston Marmaduke Kilpatrick

• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • akilpatr@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Conservation

Jacqueline Kimmey

• Pronouns
  • she, her, her, hers, herself
• Title
  • Assistant Professor
• Department
  • Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
• Campus Email
  • jkimmey@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Microbiology

Regina Day Langhout

• Pronouns
  • she, her, her, hers, herself
• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Psychology Department
• Campus Email
  • langhout@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Community-based Research

John MacMillan

• Title
  • Vice Chancellor for Research
• Department
  • Chemistry & Biochemistry Department
• Campus Email
  • jomacmil@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Chemical Biology

Karen M. Ottemann

• Pronouns
  • she/hers
• Title
  • Professor and Chair
• Department
  • Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
• Campus Email
  • ottemann@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Microbiology

Michael Patnode

• Pronouns
  • he, him, his, his, himself
• Title
  • Assistant Professor
• Department
  • Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
• Campus Email
  • mpatnode@ucsc.edu

Justin Perez

• Pronouns
  • he/him
• Title
  • Assistant Professor
• Department
  • Latin American & Latino Studies
• Campus Email
  • jdaperez@ucsc.edu

Jeremy R Sanford

• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • jsanfor2@ucsc.edu

Matt Sparke

• Pronouns
  • he, him
• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Politics Department
• Campus Email
  • msparke@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Capitalism

William Sullivan

• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • wtsulliv@ucsc.edu

Anjuli Verma

• Title
  • Assistant Professor of Politics
• Department
  • Politics Department
• Campus Email
  • acverma@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Law and Policy

Jordan Ward

• Title
  • Associate Professor
• Department
  • Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • jward2@ucsc.edu

Ali Yanik

• Title
  • Associate Professor
• Department
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Campus Email
  • yanik@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Electrical Engineering

Fitnat H. Yildiz

• Title
  • Distinguished Professor
• Department
  • Microbiology & Environmental Toxicology Department
• Campus Email
  • fyildiz@ucsc.edu

Martha Cecilia Zúñiga

• Pronouns
  • she, her, her, hers, herself
• Title
  • Professor
• Department
  • Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology Department
• Campus Email
  • mzuniga@ucsc.edu
• Faculty Areas of Expertise
  • Cell Biology