The Ebola virus outbreak centered in West Africa has claimed more than 4,000 lives thus far, including a Liberian man who fell ill and died in Texas — the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States. Two nurses who treated him since have been diagnosed with the disease. Europe also has seen its first case, a nurse in Spain who is being treated for her illness.
Physicians and researchers with the University of California are actively involved in battling the epidemic. Some are treating patients in Africa; others are helping to protect the American public; others still are involved in the urgent quest for effective treatment and a possible vaccine. The following are faculty experts and their areas of expertise:
UC Berkeley
Art Reingold, School of Public Health. Expertise: epidemiology, emerging and re-emerging infections in the United States and in developing countries
UC Davis
- Stuart Cohen, professor and chief, Division of Infectious Diseases. Expertise: infectious disease
- J. Douglas Kirk, chief medical officer, UC Davis Medical Center. Expertise: hospital procedures
- Jonna Mazet, One Health Institute and UC Global Health Institute. Expertise: epidemiology and disease ecology
UC Irvine
- Brandon Brown, Global Health Research, Education, and Translation Program (GHREAT), UCI Program in Public Health. Expertise: infectious diseases in developing countries
- Shruti Gohil, UC Irvine Medical Center. Expertise: infectious disease
- Kristi Koenig, UC Irvine School of Medicine. Expertise: disaster medicine, public health preparedness
- Carl Schultz, UC Irvine Medical Center: Expertise: disaster medical services
UCLA
- David Eisenman, David Geffen School of Medicine and Fielding School of Public Health. Expertise: bioterrorism, disaster preparedness and response
- Peter Katona, David Geffen School of Medicine. Expertise: bioterrorism, infectious disease
- Mark Morocco, David Geffen School of Medicine. Expertise: emergency medicine, infectious disease response
- Anne Rimoin, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Expertise: epidemiology, infectious disease, Ebola
- Zachary Rubin, UCLA Health. Expertise: infectious disease
- Daniel Uslan, UCLA Health. Expertise: infectious disease
UC Riverside
G. Richard Olds, dean, UC Riverside School of Medicine. Expertise: tropical diseases, international health
UC San Diego
Julia Ponomarenko, San Diego Supercomputer Center. Expertise: data analysis
UCSF
- Charles Chiu, UCSF School of Medicine. Expertise: infectious disease, genomics, diagnostics, Ebola
- George Rutherford, UCSF School of Medicine. Expertise: public health, international disease surveillance, infectious disease epidemiology, disease control
UC Santa Cruz
Jim Kent, UC Santa Cruz Genome Browser Project. Expertise: bioinformatics
UC students, faculty, staff and others considering travel to or from affected areas of West Africa should make themselves aware of local conditions and take appropriate precautions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have compiled guidelines specifically for colleges and universities. UC campuses have distributed these guidelines and other information via their websites and campus health facilities.
See the accompanying links to the right for more on UC's role in combatting Ebola.
