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EPI Research Day 2024

Feb. 15, 2024

EPI Research Day 2024

EPI Research Day 2024 took place on Feb. 15, 2024, in the UF Reitz Union Grand Ballroom. The event had over 135 posters from 30 departments within ten UF colleges, as well as from EPI external affiliates. Renowned researchers Albert Ko, M.D., and Anna P. Durbin, M.D., both gave keynote talks about their research efforts.

Picture of dimorphic fungi. Dimorphic fungi can exist in the form of both mold and yeast.

Keynote Talks

Albert Ko, M.D.

Albert Ko, M.D. is the Raj and Indra Nooyi Professor of Public Health at the Yale School of Public Health and Collaborating Researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazilian Ministry of Health. His research centers on the health problems that have emerged as a consequence of rapid urbanization and social inequity.

Anna P. Durbin

Anna P. Durbin, M.D., is a professor of international health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also serves as the Director of the Center for Immunization Research at Johns Hopkins. Her research covers experimental vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, dengue, West Nile, Zika, malaria, and more in human clinical trials and in controlled human infection studies.

Event Highlights

Poster Competition Winners

Pre-doctoral Poster Competition

  • First Place
    • Tingting Gu, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida
      • Abstract title: Implications of symbiosis on listeria monocytogenes biofilm on food contact surfaces
  • Second Place
    • Savannah Grace, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Florida
      • Abstract title: Low prevalence of sars-cov-2 in both farmed and free-range florida white-tailed deer
  • Third Place
    • Tan Luong, Department of Geography, Emerging Pathogens Institute, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida
      • Abstract title: One health on the edge: results from a network analysis of policies governing human health and animal health planning in vietnam
    • Nanyangwe Siuluta, Department of Epidemiology, Emerging Pathogens Institute, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida
      • Abstract title: Trauma and self-reported cervical cancer screening among women living with HIV: results from the Florida cohort study

Post-doctoral Poster Competition

  • First Place
    • Sebastian Botero-Cañola, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Florida
      • Abstract title: The geographic distribution and environmental drivers of Ornithodoros Turicata through the southeastern United States
  • Second Place
    • Sanghyeon Kim, Department of Entomology and Nematology, Emerging Pathogens Institute, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
      • Abstract title: Characterization of pro-viral proteins in secreted saliva of varroa destructor

Early-stage Investigator Poster Competition

  • First Place
    • Jeff Gruntmeir, Department of Comparative, Diagnostic, and Population Medicine, Emerging Pathogens Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida
      • Abstract title: Sars-cov-2 surveillance among us native wild mammals entering rehabilitation facilities
  • Second Place
    • Norman Beatty, Department of Medicine, Emerging Pathogens Institute, College of Medicine, University of Florida
      • Abstract title: The Florida kissing bug (hemiptera,triatominae) – unearthing a potential new species of the Chagas vector

Past Research Day

Mosquito dorsal vessel (green) infected with Dengue virus that is being phagocytized by hemocytes.

Event Recap

EPI Research Day 2023

Missed the last research day? Want to know what the event is like? Visit our event recap page for recordings of the keynote talks, event highlight articles and more.