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Infectious Disease and the Warfighter

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The HDIAC Team has produced a multi-volume training video series to accompany its monthly live webinars and shorter video podcasts.  It is our intent to make such longer training series available to our registered members for use as training aids for both individuals and groups, allowing deeper study of topics that are of high interest to the HDIAC Community of Practice.

This two-part series and associated state of the art report discuss infectious diseases from the viewpoint of the military warfighter.  Infectious diseases are disorders caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites that can be passed by human-to-human contact, by insects or other animals, or by contaminated surfaces, food, or water.  By its very nature, warfare lends itself to the spread of such disease, and contagions have had an impact on every conflict.  During the Napoleonic wars, eight times more soldiers in the British Army died from disease than from wounds sustained in battle, and Napoleon turned back during a Mediterranean campaign due to plague; in the U.S. Civil War, fully two-thirds of the 650,000 casualties were due to infectious disease.  The very conditions anticipated in combat – operating in close quarters in spartan conditions, deployments to remote areas, exposure to unknown pathogens, the rigors and wounds associated with combat, and the potential for encountering weaponized agents – are known to be precursors to the spread of diseases that can and have decimated combat readiness.

The purpose of these 2 episodes and state of the art report are to:

  • Provide historical insight into infectious disease
  • Provide an overview of infectious disease and its impact on military forces
  • Provide a greater understanding of the need to plan for infectious disease in anticipation of military deployments
  • Offer a summary of current countermeasures for infectious diseases likely to be encountered in an expeditionary environment

This series is provided to registered members of the HDIAC community for informational purposes only. Please login or register to become a member to view this informative training series.

Presenters:

Timothy Endy, MD
Timothy Endy, MD
Dr. Timothy Endy is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at State University of New York, Upstate Medical University. Tim has been involved in all aspects of basic science and clinical research with a focus on dengue and emerging viruses for the past 25 years. He is currently the principal investigator of the Dengue Human Infection Model and one of the project directors for the NIH P01 grant on flavivirus pathogenesis being conducted at Guardian Centers' field site in Thailand. He has over 20 years of experience in performing phase I-III vaccine efficacy trials as well as prospective and surveillance studies. Tim has his B.S. in Biology from Pennsylvania State University, his MPH in Epidemiology from University of Michigan, and his MD from the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences. Tim completed both his Residency and a later Fellowship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Stephen Thomas, MD
Stephen Thomas, MD
Dr. Stephen Thomas, (Colonel, US Army (Retired)), has nearly 30 years of experience in infectious disease research. He is currently the Chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at SUNY Upstate Medical University, a professor in both the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Department of Medicine, and is an Infectious Diseases Consultant for the Syracuse Veterans Army Medical Center. Prior to his work in Syracuse, Dr. (COL) Thomas was the Deputy Commander, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and WRAIR Chief of Virology, an Infectious Disease Consultant to the Surgeon General in US Army Medical Command, and the Director of Dengue Vaccine Development for the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Bangkok. Dr. Thomas has authored numerous publications, most recently focusing on Zika and Dengue. He is a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the American College of Physicians. He received his BA from Brown University and his MD from Albany Medical College.
Dr. Kristopher Paolino, MD
Dr. Kristopher Paolino, MD
Dr. Paolino attended the SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine under the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program and was trained at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, becoming board certified in both internal medicine and infectious diseases. He then spent over 5 years working as a clinician researcher at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research where he served as Chief of the Clinical Trials Center (CTC), overseeing over 24 clinical trials to include the first site to vaccinate a patient with the current leading ebola vaccine, as well as several other leading vaccine candidates against tropical disease treats. He is currently part of the infectious disease faculty at SUNY Upstate Medical University, faculty mentor for the University’s Resident Research Council and Director of Clinical Research at the Upstate Institute for Global Health and Translational Sciences. He has developed a clinical and research interest in Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.
Mara Kiernan
Mara Kiernan
Mara Kiernan is the lead analyst at the Homeland Defense and Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC) where she contributes expert writing, analysis, and synthesis to research and training products across the HDIAC’s 8 technical focus areas. Prior to working for the HDIAC, Mara specialized as a mixed method researcher and has extensive quantitative and qualitative research experience. Her past work spans a number of focus areas, with publications on continuing productivity during presidential administration transitions as well as drone warfare. Mara is currently pursuing her M.S. in Terrorism & Homeland Security Policy at American University, and holds her B.A. in Foreign Affairs and Middle Eastern Languages & Literatures from the University of Virginia.

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