The study described the use of the body's own immune cells to treat metastatic melanoma. For Dr. Kottilil, it was a revelation. "I wanted to do something similar, to develop therapies that could cure diseases once thought incurable," he recalled.

For many patients, recovery from a viral infection marks the end of illness. The fever fades or the symptoms improve, and life returns normal. But emerging research at USF Health suggests that with some viruses, especially as people age, the most serious effects may surface years later, quietly unfolding in the brain.

The next pandemic will not begin with headlines. It will begin quietly, somewhere in the world, in a single infection that spreads unnoticed. By the time it is detected, it may already be moving faster than the systems designed to stop it.

The drive for scientific collaboration motivated the creation of the Global Virus Network, the organization now relocating its international headquarters to its new host, the University of South Florida.