Pitt Public Health is one of the few graduate schools of public health with a department dedicated to the study of infectious diseases, which are at the root of some of the world’s most pressing health issues.

The Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (IDM) is committed to training the next generation of scientists and public health professionals to enhance the control of infectious diseases in the human population. Our integrated microbiology graduate programs are devoted to the education and training of graduate students in various molecular, immunologic, epidemiologic, and biologic aspects of microbial pathogenesis, as well as infectious disease control, prevention and education.

Pitt Public Health has made major contributions in defining, preventing, and treating some of the most devastating diseases of the past 60 years. Among the pioneering scientific breakthroughs made by IDM researchers are...

  • Prevention of poliovirus with gamma globulin, which helped in the development of the Salk polio vaccine
  • Identification of dengue viruses and the hemorrhagic fever caused by them
  • Discovery of adeno-associated virus
  • Linking the transmission of cytomegalovirus to infected organs in transplantation
  • Evidence showing HIV load in the blood is a strong predictor of disease progression
  • Establishing the Pitt Men's Study, a part of the ongoing, greater than 30 year nationwide Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study on the natural history of HIV infection
  • Establishing The Mid Atlantic AIDS Education and Training Center (MAETC) which has provided HIV/AIDS education, consultation, technical assistance and resource materials to health care professionals for over 30 years

Degrees

The IDM Department is committed to high-quality graduate education that is consistent with our cutting-edge research and behavioral and community education programs. Drawing on the disciplines of molecular biology, immunology, epidemiology, medicine, health education, and community intervention, our graduate programs encourage students to engage in cross-disciplinary research of multiple aspects of infectious diseases.

Doctoral and master level degree programs offered include...

Within the MPH program two concentrations are available:

 

Mellors discusses potential COVID-19 drug

CUMBERLAND TIMES-NEWS - IDM’s...
Mellors discusses potential COVID-19 drug

CUMBERLAND TIMES-NEWS - IDM’s John Mellors, UPMC’s chief of infectious diseases, said the biological molecule “is small, which means it penetrates into areas of the body where a full-sized antibody may not. It’s fully human, meaning that there’s no foreign material that’s likely to be rejected by t... (09/16/2020)

Summer of 2020: Evolution of our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and ability to forecast COVID-19

What we have learned during t...
Summer of 2020: Evolution of our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and ability to forecast COVID-19

What we have learned during the summer of 2020 that puts SARS-CoV-2 into perspective with other emerging viruses and explores the current state of COVID-19 forecasting for the next few months. IDM's Amy Hartman talks what we know (and don't know) about SARS-CoV-2 and EPI's Donald Burke discusses th... (09/14/2020)

PSI students volunteer for raccoon rabies baiting

PSI students Matt Duespohl (I...
PSI students volunteer for raccoon rabies baiting

PSI students Matt Duespohl (IDM ‘20) and Annette Curry (IDM ’21) had the opportunity to volunteer for the annual oral rabies baiting that occurred the first week of August in southwestern Pennsylvania. Since 2001, ACHD has partnered with the USDA Wildlife Services each summer to distribute hundreds... (08/21/2020)

What the Allegheny County Health Department is doing to address health disparities. An open letter to the community.

NEXT PITTSBURGH - Allegheny C...
What the Allegheny County Health Department is doing to address health disparities. An open letter to the community.

NEXT PITTSBURGH - Allegheny County, like Minneapolis, has substantial racial disparities that impact all of us. Our communities are starkly divided along racial and ethnic lines. With these lines come distinct differences in access to housing, education, transportation and employment. These differe... (07/09/2020)

My gym is reopening. Reed isn't sure it’s safe to work out there.

NPR - If you want to exercise...
My gym is reopening. Reed isn't sure it’s safe to work out there.

NPR - If you want to exercise indoors, it’s safer to do it at home, says IDM’s Doug Reed, an immunologist and aerobiologist. If you do go to the gym and you’re breathing heavily, it would be better to double your regular physical distance to 12 feet, because we don’t know exactly how far virus part... (07/05/2020)