Marco Salemi, Ph.D., became interim director of the University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute, effective November 8, 2024.
Salemi has worked in the field of molecular epidemiology and evolution of viral and bacterial pathogens for more than 30 years. He has a continuing interest in the application of novel experimental and computational technologies to the field of microbial evolution and pathogenesis. As EPI’s Associate Director for Research Initiatives, Salemi has helped shape the interdisciplinary vision behind the development of several projects to study and control infectious disease outbreaks.
Salemi is a tenured professor in the UF College of Medicine Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine. He holds the Stephany W. Holloway University Chair for Research in Chronic and Infectious Diseases and was a Marie Curie Fellow at the Rega Institute of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from the University of Pavia, Italy, in 1991, his master’s degree in biotechnology from the University of Milan, Italy, in 1995, and his Ph.D. in science from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1999. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California – Irvine, he worked with Walter M. Fitch, one of the founding fathers of molecular phylogenetics.
Salemi is an internationally recognized expert in the field of molecular evolution of pathogens and phylogenetic analysis. In recent years, his research has also focused on the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to predict epidemic outbreaks, viral pathogenesis, and host immune responses. A highly cited researcher, he has published more than 230 original research articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, and PNAS, and is the recipient of several National Institutes of Health awards. He joined the faculty at the University of Florida in 2004.
