ATLANTA – Emory University’s infectious diseases program ranks 5th in the United States and 9th in the world, according to a new listing from U.S. News & World Report.
“Emory is a global leader when it comes to the research and treatment of infectious diseases,” says Jonathan S. Lewin, executive vice president for health affairs at Emory and executive director of Woodruff Health Sciences Center.
“This ranking recognizes the impact our infectious disease faculty and staff have had in this critical discipline for so many years. From HIV to Ebola to the current battle against COVID-19, Emory has led the way in tackling deadly diseases, and we appreciate this recognition of our dedicated staff, researchers and clinicians.”
The Emory Vaccine Center is crucial to Emory’s successes in infectious disease research, providing a centralized focus on infectious diseases work from faculty across the university. Established in 1996 with support from Emory University and the Georgia Research Alliance, the EVC is one of the largest academic vaccine centers in the world, and is renowned for its expertise in cellular immunity and immune memory.
Emory catapulted to international prominence when, six years ago, its infectious disease team treated four U.S. citizens for Ebola. They were the first Ebola patients to be treated in the U.S. Emory’s groundbreaking work on Ebola led to innovations in patient care that continue to be implemented worldwide.
More recently, Emory has been at the forefront of clinical trials for leading COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, including ones that are currently being used among millions of Americans after receiving emergency use authorization by federal regulators. Emory attracted one of the most diverse pools of vaccine clinical trial volunteers in the nation.
The work on COVID-19 was fueled by research that began decades ago on HIV. Once a death sentence for those infected, today more people with HIV are living longer because of drugs like Emtriva, discovered at Emory. Today 90 percent of HIV patients in the U.S. take the drug.
The full global rankings of infectious disease programs can be found here: U.S. News.