Designated Emphasis in the Biology of Vector-borne Diseases

The Designated Emphasis in the Biology of Vector-borne Diseases (DEBVBD) is a training program that equips talented graduate students to do ground-breaking research aimed at reducing the prevalence of vector-borne diseases. Many of the world’s most serious pathogens are carried by insects and other invertebrates to humans, other animals, and plants. Vector-borne diseases with great human impact include malaria, dengue, Zika, Lyme and others. Vectored plant diseases include citrus greening, Pierce’s disease, thousand cankers disease, tomato spotted wilt, grape fanleaf and others, producing devastating crop losses or deforestation.

We welcome donations to support our students. Funds will be used to enable students to travel to scientific meetings and to further develop their research projects. Our students are drawn from a variety of graduate programs and groups that reflect the complexity of vector-borne disease dynamics. These include Microbiology, Integrative Pathobiology, Ecology, Entomology, Epidemiology, Plant Pathology, and Immunology, allowing placement of our students into competitive academic, industry, governmental, and non-governmental positions.