UCLA Fielding School infectious disease expert to lead Center for Global and Immigrant Health
Anne Rimoin, associate professor of epidemiology, has been appointed director of the Fielding School’s Center for Global and Immigrant Health.
Anne Rimoin, associate professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, has been appointed director of the Fielding School’s Center for Global and Immigrant Health.
An internationally recognized expert on global health and emerging infectious diseases, Rimoin has served as associate director for the Center for Global and Immigrant Health since 2014. Rimoin has conducted research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the past 16 years and her work has yielded several findings, including the emergence of monkeypox since the cessation of smallpox vaccination and the identification of new pathogens in animals and humans. Her team has documented that several survivors of the first reported Ebola outbreak in 1976 still have antibodies against the virus. She and colleagues have also reported that antibodies in Ebola survivors efficiently neutralize all strains of the Ebolavirus and the related Marburgvirus. These discoveries have the potential to lead to the development of vaccines and therapeutics that could provide protection against multiple strains of Ebola and related viruses. Rimoin’s team is currently leading efforts in the DRC to assess the efficacy of experimental Ebola vaccines.
In 2004, when Rimoin joined UCLA, she founded the UCLA-DRC Health Research and Training Program. The program provides training opportunities for U.S. and Congolese epidemiologists to conduct infectious disease research in low-resource, logistically complex settings.
“We are delighted to have Anne Rimoin bring her extensive experience in global disease surveillance and capacity building to the center,” said Yifang Zhu, acting dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Rimoin’s appointment with the UCLA Center for Global and Immigrant Health is effective Sept. 4 following the tenure of Ninez Ponce who served as center director since 2014. Ponce, an internationally recognized health disparities researcher and professor of health policy and management at the Fielding School, began her term as the new director of the school’s Center for Health Policy Research on July 1.
The Center for Global and Immigrant Health, which was established in 2008, includes faculty who work with immigrant communities in California and faculty who have research collaborations in more than 50 countries throughout the world. The center offers a Certificate in Global Health to students in any of UCLA's graduate and professional schools, which gives them the opportunity to acquire international fieldwork experience.
The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, founded in 1961, is dedicated to enhancing the public's health by conducting innovative research, training future leaders and health professionals from diverse backgrounds, translating research into policy and practice, and serving our local communities and the communities of the nation and the world. The school has more than 600 students from more than 25 nations engaged in carrying out the vision of building healthy futures in greater Los Angeles, California, the nation and the world.
Faculty Referenced by this Article
Associate Professor for Industrial Hygiene and Environmental Health Sciences
Industrial Hygiene & Analytical Chemistry
Robert J. Kim-Farley, MD, MPH, is a Professor-in-Residence with joint appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Community Health Sciences
Dr. Joseph Davey is an infectious disease epidemiologist with over 20 years' experience leading research on HIV/STI services for women and children.
Dr. Hankinson is a Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and of EHS, and Chair of the Molecular Toxicology IDP
Professor of Community Health Sciences & Health Policy and Management, and Associate Dean for Research
EMPH Academic Program Director with expertise in healthcare marketing, finance, and reproductive health policy, teaching in the EMPH, MPH, MHA program
Dr. Michelle S. Keller is a health services researcher whose research focuses on the use and prescribing of high-risk medications.
Dr. Ron Andersen is the Wasserman Professor Emeritus in the UCLA Departments of Health Policy and Management.
Nationally recognized health services researcher and sociomedical scientist with 25+ years' experience in effectiveness and implementation research.