Global impact
Breaking boundaries beyond borders
At the EPI, we strive to move Florida and the world forward through a strong collaborative spirit and innovative resources. Our members engage in state-wide, national and international research to help fight infectious diseases for all. Use the data visualization below to explore the impact the institute makes both on campus and across the world. The data visualization only contains information collected from faculty members.
Global Impact
Zika in the Americas
In 2016, the WHO declared that the recent association of Zika infection with clusters of microcephaly and other neurological disorders constituted an international public health threat. EPI biologists and public health researchers analyzed data from a Haitian strain of the virus, which questioned mainstream assumptions about how Zika arrived in the Caribbean and South America. EPI’s geneticists found evidence suggesting that Zika was circulating in the Caribbean at least six months before the first reports of the Brazilian epidemic.
State impact
COVID in Florida
In February 2020, before any cases were known in the state of Florida, EPI members isolated COVID from the door handle of one of the main buildings on the University of Florida campus. Continuing their years of work studying coronaviruses, our members have since conducted various research projects that investigated the epidemiology, virology, serological response and mathematical modeling of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, as well as in other countries.
