How Do Virus Epidemics Emerge?

Trainer
Donald Burke, MD

Description
In this presentation, Dr. Donald Burke examines how emerging diseases function and spread, using the examples of HIV and SARS to demonstrate his ideas. He concludes with a general discussion on current viruses.

Trainer Biography

Donald S. Burke, M.D., is Professor of International Health and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he serves as the Associate Chair and Director of the Disease Prevention and Control Program and Director of the Center for Immunization Research. His research interests include prevention, diagnosis, and control of infectious diseases of global importance.

As the principal investigator of the HIV Vaccine Trials Unit at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, with subsites and collaborations in China, Thailand, India, and South Africa, he leads clinical research on new vaccines against HIV and AIDS. He is co-principal investigator of the Measles Vaccine Initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He lectures, and leads a seminar series, on Vaccine Science and Policy.

Dr. Burke also pursues his research interests in the epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases. He established and directs a project on cross-species transmission of infectious diseases in rain forest populations in Cameroon, Central Africa. He is currently using computational approaches to develope simulations and predictive models of infectious disease epidemiology and evolution, focusing on dengue, measles, and other epidemic virus diseases. Most recently he has begun to apply this approach to development of epidemiological models of bioterrorist attacks.