Infectious Diseases

The Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases has an established record of public health discovery through laboratory science. In the school’s first century, YSPH led the fight against poliomyelitis, housed the Arbovirus Research Unit which moved from the Rockefeller Foundation to Yale in 1964 (and was home to Nobel prize-winning scientist Max Theiler and other prominent scientists), as well as the WHO serum bank. Today, Yale is home to several modern laboratories that address vector-borne diseases transmitted by tsetse flies, ticks, mosquitoes and sand flies. In addition, our scientists are pursuing solutions to respiratory ailments, antibiotic resistance, diagnostic testing, vaccine development and infections related to STIs and intravenous drug use.