Biology of Vector-borne Diseases course
The Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem hosts the annual Biology of Vector-borne Diseases six-day course. This course provides accessible, condensed training and "knowledge networking" for advanced graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty and professionals to ensure competency in basic biology, current trends and developments, and practical knowledge for U.S. and global vector-borne diseases of plants, animals and humans. We seek to train the next generation of scientists and help working professionals to more effectively address current and emerging threats with holistic approaches and a strong network of collaborators and mentors.
The course is both lecture- and discussion-based and is delivered by internationally recognized experts, with integrated case studies of emerging vector-borne pathogens to highlight parallels and key distinctions in biology across plant, animal and human vector-borne diseases. This course sets an example of new vision, through leadership of the Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem, to create an enduring community of participants and instructors to expand the impact and sustainability of these approaches.
The sixth annual Biology of Vector-borne Disease course is scheduled for Monday through Saturday, June 16-21, 2025. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance and invited to register for the course. The course registration fee ($2,500) includes housing, meals, course materials and social activities. Registration will be due following acceptance into the course.
In the course, we are attempting to break down silos, to move people away from focusing on individual organisms, individual temporal and spatial scales of study and individual pathosystems, to seeing connections and parallels among all of these.
Decision-making
This occurs at many levels in vector-borne diseases. For example, hosts and vectors are subject to processes analogous to decision-making, researchers and practitioners are subjected to decision-making that is often constrained by the pathosystem of study and goals for management (e.g., pertaining to agriculture vs public health) and by the diagnostic tools available or selected.
Networks
We want to create a “knowledge network” of researchers, trainees, and practitioners who look at plant, animal, and human vector-borne diseases more holistically. This is also a concept that we will solidify with talks that illustrate networks of biology across multiple scales in example vector-borne disease pathosystems.
Communication
We can talk about host-vector communication, host-pathogen communication, communication among participants and instructors, communication among scientists, stakeholders and the public, and, perhaps most importantly, scientific communication across pathosystems that is enabled by breaking down barriers in vocabulary.
Dynamics
Vector-borne disease pathosystems are incredibly dynamic and we seek to facilitate new ways of thinking about important distinctions, biological parallels and ecosystem drivers across plant, animal and human vector-borne diseases. This will enable a new generation of thinkers to respond more effectively to emergent, dynamic, complex phenomena with innovative and sustainable solutions.
- — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- — Colorado State University
- — University of California-Davis
- Sanford Eigenbrode — 果冻传媒麻豆社
- — Washington State University
- — Washington State University
- — Washington State University, Clean Plant Center Northwest
- Luc Leblanc — 果冻传媒麻豆社
- Ed Lewis — 果冻传媒麻豆社
- Shirley Luckhart — 果冻传媒麻豆社
- — Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology
- — Michigan State University
- — Colorado State University
- Chris Mclntosh — 果冻传媒麻豆社
- — Texas A&M University
- — International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya
- — University of Florida
- — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins
- — University of Arizona
- — Virginia Tech
- — Pennsylvania State University
- — USDA/ARS
- — 果冻传媒麻豆社
- — French National Research Institute for Agriculture Food and Environment (INRAE)
- — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Erik Wenninger — 果冻传媒麻豆社
U.S. National Science Foundation Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (NSF EEID) 2024 scholarships
- Mary Ann Ammugauan (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Philippines)
- Haswell Dambolachepa (Agricultural Research Services, Chitedze Agricultural Research Station, Malawi)
- Juan Vicente Bogado-Machuca (Universidad Nacional de Caaguazú, Paraguay)
- Lydia Eyase (Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya)
- Mariana Geffroy-Lopez (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México)
- Alice Litta-Mulondo (National Livestock Resources Research Institute, Uganda)
- Ana Pérez-Rodas (International Potato Center, Lima, Perú)
- Ana Paula Mansilla (CONICET, Argentina)
- Byron Hernández-Ortiz (AGROSAVIA, Colombia)
- Jovin Mahendeka (National Development Corporation, Tanzania)
- Alex Eapen (ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, India)
- Antonio Alvarado (Delaware Division of Public Health)
- Jasmine Che (Benton County Mosquito Control District)
- Megan Dobson (果冻传媒麻豆社)
- Molly Meagher (MaineHealth Institute for Research)
- Valerie Nguyen (University of Florida)
Scholarship in recognition of the Elsevier journal One Health, 2024
- Thierry Tovignan (Quisqueya University, Haiti)
Application Process
- accepted starting Oct. 1
- Dec. 31 — Deadline to be considered for scholarship
- Feb. 17 — Announcement of scholarship recipients
- March 17 — Final application deadline
MissionCreate a knowledge network for a diverse and growing community of practitioners who transforms science, and develop interventions across plant, animal and human vector-borne diseases. VisionStimulate and enhance innovative research, collaborations, teaching and outreach in plant, animal and human vector-borne diseases through a cutting-edge and interactive annual course delivered by a core community of leading scientists.