Vector-Borne Disease Regional Centers of Excellence

CDC awarded $40 million over the next five years to four universities to establish regional centers of excellence (COEs) in vector-borne diseases. CDC awarded approximately $2 million to each COE the first year and will award $2 million to each COE the following four years. The awardees include the University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of California-Davis, University of Florida, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Goals

• Conduct research on ways to prevent tick and mosquito bites or suppress populations of regionally important ticks and mosquitoes and their associated human disease pathogens.
• Train a new generation of public health entomologists to serve as experts in vector-borne diseases at state and local levels.
• Strengthen collaboration between the academic community and state, territorial, and local public health organizations, vector management programs, and other potential partners to develop, evaluate, and implement strategies that suppress ticks and mosquitoes and the pathogens they spread.

COEs, 2017-2022

In 2017, five universities were established as regional centers of excellence (COE) to help prevent and rapidly respond to emerging vector-borne diseases across the United States. CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD) awarded a total of over $51.5 million for five years to these universities.

The Northeast Regional COE at Cornell University*

The Pacific Southwest COE at the University of California, Davis and Riverside

The Southeastern Regional COE at the University of Florida

The Western Gulf COE at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston

The Midwest COE at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

*This original COE’s workplan extends through December 2022.