03 May Osorio to lead UW Global Health Institute

By Ann Grauvogl, UW–Madison

Jorge Osorio, an expert in epidemiology, virology and vaccines, has been named the next director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Global Health Institute.

Osorio, professor of pathobiological sciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine, has decades of international experience studying emerging diseases — especially viruses and other pathogens making leaps from animal hosts to humans — and ways to prevent their spread with vaccines, antivirals and other public health measures.

The Global Health Institute applies research, education and outreach to advance equitable and sustainable health across Wisconsin and the world. Working across disciplines, GHI fosters deeper understanding of the complex determinants of health and disease and the connections between animal, human and planetary health. In May, Osorio will take over leadership of the institute from Jonathan Patz, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and John P. Holton Professor of Health and the Environment and director of GHI since its founding in 2011.

“I am very excited and honored to lead the Global Health Institute,” Osorio says. “During the past 10 years, GHI has advanced important global health issues under the leadership of Dr. Jonathan Patz and his team. As the new director, I will build on their accomplishments, finding new opportunities for our faculty and students to investigate and find solutions to the world’s current health challenges.”

Osorio is also co-director of the Colombia-Wisconsin One Health Consortium, a joint effort between UW–Madison and Universidad Nacional in Colombia that is studying emerging diseases and the way the complex interactions of living things and the environment affect health outcomes — a concept called One Health. Read more …