This series spotlights the new faculty that joined the YSPH Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases (EMD) program in 2024. Along with our student spotlight series, our theme this month is tick-borne diseases. Here, Research Scientist Dr. Chantal Vogels, who will transition to an Assistant Professor on July 1st, tells us about her pathway and some of her exciting research in a Q&A format.
How long have you been a part of Yale EMD, and what was your journey to get here?
Chantal: I joined Yale EMD as a postdoc in the Grubaugh Lab in the summer of 2018. After completing my PhD in my home country, The Netherlands, I wanted to gain research experience abroad and complement my background in ecology with training in evolution and genomics, which brought me to Yale EMD.
What made you decide to apply to be part of Yale EMD faculty?
Over the past years, EMD has become my home and this made me decide to apply for a tenure track position. I particularly value the supportive environment, breadth of infectious disease research, and the powerful combination of laboratory, field, and computational research in our department.
What advice would you give early career researchers starting out in the field of tick-borne disease and EMD more broadly?
Dream big, stay humble, and find the best possible mentors.
I’m looking for motivated students who are eager to pursue cutting-edge research on the intersection of arthropod-borne virus ecology, evolution, and epidemiology, with a strong focus on public health.
Chantal Vo
What do you look for in an MPH or PhD student looking to join your lab?
I’m building a diverse team that tackles complex scientific challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork. I’m looking for motivated students who are eager to pursue cutting-edge research on the intersection of arthropod-borne virus ecology, evolution, and epidemiology, with a strong focus on public health.
What previous work are you most proud of?
I am proud of our work on the emergence and spread of Powassan virus in the northeastern United States. We partnered with public health laboratories and increased the genomic dataset from ~20 to >300 genomes. Our work revealed that Powassan virus is maintained in highly localized transmission foci, which raised new hypotheses on the ecology of Powassan virus.
What are you working on at the moment?
Our recent work on Powassan virus raised new hypotheses on how the virus is maintained in highly localized transmission foci. We are currently further uncovering the ecological barriers to Powassan virus transmission and spread by studying the role of reservoir host(s), alternate modes of transmission, and the environmental factors that define foci.
Where do you see the field of tick-borne disease research heading in the next few years, and what role do you hope your work will play in this future landscape?
Recent advances in genomics have provided new tools to study tick-borne pathogens. I foresee new discoveries in the ecology and evolution of tick-borne pathogens that we can leverage to better inform sustainable and targeted prevention and control strategies.