Education Development Center (EDC) is a nonprofit organization that designs, implements, and evaluates programs designed to improve education, health, and economic opportunity worldwide. Collaborating with both public and private partners, EDC strives for a world where all people are empowered to live healthy, productive lives.
The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) is part of a national network of secure facilities studying infectious diseases that are—or have the potential to become—major public health concerns. The laboratories are dedicated to the development of diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments to combat emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the most recent, and perhaps one of the deadliest, in a series of epidemics that have occurred in the past three decades. While many of these outbreaks remain contained within certain regions of the world, several diseases, including HIV, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, and influenza, have become pandemics, causing morbidity and mortality on a global scale. Regardless of the scale, reports of these deadly outbreaks often result in fear and panic in populations that may not even be at risk, engendering behaviors that are inappropriate to the disease and out of proportion to the risk. Much of this panic behavior can be attributed to a lack of basic understandings about infectious diseases— what they are, what causes them, how they spread, and how they can be prevented and treated.
The intent of the resources presented in this website is to equip students with background knowledge and skills needed to seek out new information, make sense and assess the validity of this information, and apply it to their decision making related to infectiousdiseases. With a new outbreak of infection disease erupting once every 12 - 18 months somewhere in the world, students must have a sufficient understanding of the core concepts related to infectious disease, and the skills and vocabulary to respond appropriately.
- Jacqueline S. Miller, PhD has had extensive experience in science curriculum design. Prior to coming to EDC, she conducted research on viruses and parasites at Harvard Medical School and taught courses in virology, parasitology, and the molecular basis of infectious disease.
- Katherine F. Paget, PhD has served as evaluator and assessment developer for over 25 NSF, NIH, and NASA science curriculum development projects since 1990.
- Nevin Katz is a technology associate with experience in web development, animation, and biology education.
- Ami Raymond is the project coordinator.
- Dr. Aaron Mauck, History of Science Department, Harvard University
- Dr. Adam Hume, National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory, Boston University Medical School
- Dr. Linda Rennick, National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory, Boston University Medical School
- Juliana Lord, Macalester College