Course

Wilson Miranda, MPH has worked in public health for over 18 years, with a primary focus on communicable diseases in particular TB, HIV, and STIs. He currently serves as the head of surveillance and special projects in the Office of Sexual Health and Epidemiology, at the New York State Health Department AIDS Institute. In this role, he is responsible for oversight of statewide STI surveillance and research, partner services related surveillance collaborations, and system enhancements and efficiencies. Current priorities include highlighting the intersectionality of social determinants of health with STI transmissions.

Kara Mitchell, PhD joined the Wadsworth Center in 2010 as a Wadsworth Center Emerging Infectious Disease post-doctoral fellow. Her postdoctoral work at the Wadsworth Center included training in the Bloodborne Viruses Laboratory, the Biodefense Laboratory, and the Mycobacteriology Laboratory. In 2013, Dr. Mitchell joined the Bacteriology Laboratory, and she is currently the Director of Bacterial Reference and Special Projects. The Wadsworth Center Bacteriology Laboratory serves as the New York State public health reference laboratory providing bacterial identification and characterization. The laboratory’s unique public health services for reference level identification include conventional and molecular microbiological methods. The laboratory uses applied research to investigate the latest technological advances as well as to maintain the capabilities necessary for identifying and characterizing both unusual bacterial pathogens as well as emerging infectious diseases. The laboratory develops new molecular assays for public health purposes including real-time PCR, and DNA sequencing. Also, of interest are molecular diagnostic assays that molecularly serotype or characterize bacteria to determine if genes that confer pathogenicity, express toxins, or determine if antibiotic resistance genes are present.