Kishana Taylor

Biography

At least 30 new infectious diseases have emerged in the past 30 years, most of which are zoonotic or vector-borne. As climates continue to change as a result of unabated industrial practices and continued encroachment on wildlife habitat, it is likely rates of emergent pathogens will increase. With inequitable and stressed health systems as exacerbating factors SARS-CoV2 and monkeypox virus, the most recent examples of zoonotic disease outbreaks with global impacts, will not be the last.

My research focuses on emerging and reemerging viral pathogens and their evolutionary ability as well as their ecoepidemiology. We aim to filter this research through the lens of health equity by incorporating critical race theory, social determinants of health and the one health framework to not only identify potentially harmful pathogens but to identify mitigation strategies in the event of an outbreak. 

Publications

Taylor, K. I. Agu, I. José, S. Mäntynen, AJ Campbell, T. Chou,
B. Zhou, D. Gresham, E. Ghedin, S.L. Díaz Muñoz. 2023. Influenza Virus Reassortment is Strain Dependent. PLos Pathogens. . 9(3): e1011155 
 
Spriggs, C., N. Pittman, N. Scott, K. Taylor, A. Kozik. 2022.  A Talent Network of Black Microbiologists. Nature Microbiology 7, 469. 
 
Carlson, C., M. Farrell, Z. Grange and 32 authors including K. Taylor. 2021. Zoonotic Risk Technology Enters the Viral Emergence Tool Kit. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 376: 20200358. Published September 20, 2021. 
 
Taylor, K, Wilson, J.J., Park, A., Nemeth, N. M., Yabsley, M., Fenton, H., Keel, M.K., and Gottdenker, N. L. 2021. Temporal and spatial patterns in Canine Distemper Virus cases in wildlife diagnosed at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS), 1975- 2019. J Wildl Dis. 2021 Aug 30. 

Courses Taught

BIOL 318/518- Microbiology

Honors and Awards

William A. Hinton Award, 2023, American Society for Microbiology

Distinguished Young Alumni, 2021, University of Delaware