UF-Led Center Continues Fight Against Diseases Spread by Mosquitoes, Ticks

Established in 2016, the Southeast Regional Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Disease: The Gateway Program (SECVBD) will continue its work for another five years, thanks to renewed funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“The center is a team effort to help communities prevent, prepare and respond to vector-borne disease threats through applied research and education efforts. We look forward to continuing to inform these public health actions,” said Rhoel Dinglasan, the center’s director and a professor in the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine affiliated with the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute.

Based at the University of Florida, the SECVBD includes an interdisciplinary team of researchers from UF, the University of South Carolina, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Florida International University, University of Miami, Old Dominion University, and Ponce Health Sciences University in Puerto Rico, who work alongside leaders of state public health and mosquito and tick control agencies in the Southeast.

Over the last five years, the center has gained a reputation as a go-to source for quality, research-based training, and best practices for controlling the harmful viruses, parasites and other pathogens spread by mosquitoes, ticks and kissing bugs.

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