The University of South Florida (USF) College of Public Health (COPH) is continuously expanding the global reach of educational, research, development and entrepreneurial initiatives.  We are engaging partners to help develop opportunities for students and faculty to apply knowledge to real-world, mutual global public health challenge to include emerging infectious and neglected diseases. As part of a strategic initiative to develop a nationally recognized Department of Global Health, our College has recruited a cohort of senior faculty including two Florida World Class Scholars with demonstrated histories of successfully obtaining extramural funding and mentoring junior faculty and doctoral students and conducting multidisciplinary undergraduate research training. 

         There are two tracks within the Department of Global Health -- Global Health Practice and Global Communicable Diseases.  Many of the faculty researchers that are part of the Global Communicable Diseases track are located across campus in the new state of the art  Interdisciplinary Research Building.  These faculty form the critical mass of our new Global Health Infectious Disease Research (GHIDR) Program.

The COPH has made a great investment into the GHIDR program.  A 2,000 square foot insectary and BSL-2 vivarium has been commissioned and is operational – there are only a handful of facilities like this throughout the world;  the BSL-3 suite has been commissioned and is cleared for Select Agent use – this facility will allow Dr. Thomas Unnasch to expand his onchocerchiasis surveillance activities in developing countries; the remaining 10,000 square feet of BSL-2 space is overflowing with researchers and students from the labs of Drs. Dennis Kyle, John Adams, Wilbur Milhous and Alberto van Olphen. 

There are three distinct areas which are critical to the continued success of the GHIDR team and collaborations among all COPH faculty.  Below is a brief description on the future plans of the remaining College of Public Health space at the IDRB.

• Approximately 9,000 SF located on the third floor adjacent to the existing offices for the GHIDR program.  This space is envisioned to become an Interdisciplinary Teaching Laboratory to ready students with knowledge to tackle the global public health issues.
• Approximately 1,700 SF on the fourth floor located adjacent to the newly completed Insectary for the GHIDR program; this space is envisioned to be a Core Laboratory.
• Approximately 1,000 SF on the fourth floor adjacent to existing office space.  This space is envisioned to be a Computational Bioinformatics Laboratory.