Monthly Meeting

Thomas R. Unnasch, PhD, FASTMH Distinguished University Professor Emeritus

Dr Unnasch received his AB with highest honors from Rutgers University in 1976 and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Unnasch began his independent career in 1985 as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Geographic Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. In 1989, he became an Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Division of Geographic Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he was promoted to Professor in 1995. He relocated to USF in 2008, as a Professor in Global Health and Molecular Medicine and a State of Florida World Class Scholar. He was named co-Director of the Center for Biological Defense in 2011 and Distinguished USF Health Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health in 2012. He was named a USF Distinguished University Professor in 2019, the highest honor USF bestows on a faculty member. He officially retired in 2023, but continues as an adjunct faculty member at USF. Dr. Unnasch has been involved in the effort to eliminate river blindness for much of his career. He has served and continues to serve as a member or chair of many scientific advisory boards overseeing the river blindness elimination efforts, both in Africa and in Latin America. Closer to home, Dr. Unnasch has been involved in the study of the epidemiology of emerging virus infections in Florida and the Southeastern USA, including Zika, West Nile Virus, dengue virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus and COVID. He was the director of USF’s only select agent certified high containment laboratory for infectious diseases. His work on emerging viruses received support from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Environmental Services. Dr. Unnasch is the author or co-author of over 300 peer-reviewed articles, reviews and book chapters.