Athens, Ga. – Renowned marine microbiologist and molecular biologist Rita R. Colwell will deliver a special lecture, “Climate and Infectious Disease: the Cholera Paradigm,” to the University of Georgia research community on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. in room 237 of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Colwell is chairman of Canon U.S. Life Sciences, Inc., and a Distinguished University Professor, both at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her interests focus on global infectious diseases, water and health. She currently is developing an international network to address emerging infectious diseases and water issues, including safe drinking water for both the developed and developing world.
Colwell was the first woman and first biologist to serve as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 1998 to 2004. She also has authored or co-authored 16 books and more than 700 scientific publications, served on the editorial boards of a number of scientific journals, and produced the award-winning film, Invisible Seas.
She has been awarded 47 honorary degrees from institutions of higher education, is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and has a geological site in Antarctica named for her, Colwell Massif, in recognition of her work in the polar regions.
Before going to the NSF, Colwell was a member of the National Science Board and president of the Biotechnology Institute at the University of Maryland, were she was a professor of microbiology. Colwell holds a B.S. in bacteriology and an M.S. in genetics, from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in oceanography from the University of Washington.
Colwell’s visit is a collaborative effort of the both the College of Public Health Lecture Series and the UGA Ecology of Infectious Disease Lecture Series and is sponsored by the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute and College of Public Health.
The lecture will be preceded by a poster session featuring the research efforts of UGA infectious disease ecology investigators at 3:30 p.m. and followed by a reception at 5 p.m.
For more information about the lecture, please see www.biomed.uga.edu or www.publichealth.uga.edu.
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