Serap Aksoy PhD
Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)

Departments & Organizations
Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS): MicrobiologyOffice of International Medical Student Education
Global Health Initiative: Infectious Diseases
School of Public Health: Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases | Global Health | Parasitology Program | Aksoy Lab
Biography
Serap Aksoy, PhD, first came to Yale as a postdoctoral fellow in 1982 and worked her way to professor in 2001. From 2002-2010, she headed the Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. She serves as editor in Chief of the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases and chaired both the NIH/NIAID Vector Biology Study Section (2010-2012) and the WHO/TDR, Molecular Entomology BL5 (2008-2012). Dr. Aksoy's lab aims to understand the biology of host-pathogen interactions--in particular in tsetse flies, which transmit African trypanosomes and harbor multiple symbiotic microbes. A graduate of Vassar College (BA) and Columbia University (PhD), Dr. Aksoy has lectured around the world, and maintains ongoing collaborative research programs with the National Livestock Research Institute (NaLIRRI) in Uganda and Trypanosomiasis Research Center (TRC) in Kenya.
Education
- Ph.D., Columbia University , 1982
Selected Publication
- Toh H, et al. (2006) Massive genome erosion and functional adaptations provide insights into the symbiotic lifestyle of Sodalis glossinidius in the tsetse host. Genome research 16(2):149-156.
Latest Honor and Recognition
- Ambross Monell Foundation(2006)
Articles

Winter 2009
Transgenesis and the Management of Vector-Borne Disease
by Serap Aksoy, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology (microbial diseases) (Springer) The author explains the reasons for...
Spring 2000
To the vector go the spoils
Last July, something went very wrong in New York City’s crow population. Signs of trouble appeared first in the Bronx,...

Spring 2003
In microbe’s genome, a potential target
As genomes go, the sequence of the lowly bacterium Wigglesworthia glossinidia doesn’t carry quite the clout of the...
Spring 2003
To the four corners of the globe, studying mosquitoes, hookworms and alcohol
On the surface, both strains of Anopheles arabiensis look the same, and inside their bodies, both types of mosquitoes...
Winter 2002
International scholars find their work takes on a new importance
When the Committee on International Health held its annual symposium in early October, the events of September 11 and...



