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Brian H Bird

Brian H Bird

Professor and Professor in Residence

Medicine & Epidemiology


Education
2009, DVM, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
2008, PhD, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
2000, MS, Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, MD
1998, BA, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Active Research Grants
Principal Investigator, Ecology and Diagnostics of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic fever virus and work-force development and training program for National Bio and Agro Defense facility (NBAF), (Principal Investigator),
Collaborator, 'Ecosystem and Community Resiliency in the Sierra Nevada: Restoration of the Clover Valley Ranch’, Carrie Monahan (Principal Investigator), California Department of Fish and Wildlife/Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program
Co-Investigator, Epicenter for Emerging Infectious Disease Intelligence, Christine K. Johnson (Principal Investigator), NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Principal Investigator, Ecological Investigations of Emerging High-Consequence Zoonotic Viruses at High-priority Livestock, Wildlife, and Human Interfaces, (Principal Investigator), United States Department of Agriculture – ARS
Co-Investigator, Advanced Development of Lead Enterovirus A71 and D68 Therapeutic Candidates, Brian Bird (Principal Investigator), National Institutes of Health – NIAID
Co-Principal Investigator, Improving virus risk-ranking to better anticipate Disease X emergence in humans and target mitigation measures, Brian Bird (Principal Investigator), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)
Principal Investigator, Investigation of Rhinoceros bloodborne pathogens and other high consequence zoonotic viruses at wildlife corridor restoration sites in South Africa, (Principal Investigator), UC Davis Global Affairs Seed Grant Program
Honors and Awards
2004-2009 Floyd and Mary Schwall Medical Research Fellow Award, University of California, Davis
2006, 2008 American Society of Virology Student Travel Award
2012 Charles C. Shepard Award in Laboratory Science – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Highest CDC award for original research published in a peer-reviewed journal
2015 Ebola West Africa Response Award – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for significant contributions towards the control of the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak
2016 Distinguished Alumni Award – UC Davis Veterinary Scientist Training Program
2016 Meritorious Service Award United States of America Department of State – For exceptional support in leading the CDC Ebola laboratories in Sierra Leone
2020 2020 UCD SVM Rising Star Alumni Award, Given to recent (within 15 years) DVM graduate for meritorious service and achievement.
Most Recent Five Book Chapters
2021 Bird BH: Rift Valley fever - Epidemiology, Genomics, Diagnostics, and Control, Coetzer JAW, Penrith ML, Maclachlan NJ, Thomson GR, (ed), Infectious Diseases of Livestock, . .
2019 Bird BH: The Scope of Global Infectious Disease Research: Field Capture, Quarantine, and Sample Transfer to Detect Emerging Pathogen Threats, Halabi SF, Katz R, (ed), Viral Sovereignty, Technology Transfer, and the Global System for Sharing Human Pathogens for Public, . .
2019 Bird BH: Rift Valley fever, Ryan ET, Hill DR, Solomon T, Endy TP, Aronson N, (ed), Hunter’s Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Disease (10th Edition), . 36.7.
2015 Bird BH: Arenaviridae, Maclachlan NJ, Dubovi EJ, (ed), Fenner’s Veterinary Virology (Fifth Edition) , . .
2013 Bird BH, Reynes J-M, Nichol ST: Rift Valley Fever, Magill AJ, (ed), Hunter’s Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Disease (9th Edition), . 33.7.
Research Focus
High-Consequence Zoonotic Viruses - My research passions lie in the areas of zoonotic virus epidemiology, detection, prevention, and control. I am keenly proud of my track record building and leading teams of collaborators to make fundamental discoveries of novel viruses in wildlife, gain insights into the molecular mechanisms of virus pathogenesis, develop state-of-the-art diagnostics and novel vaccines, and establish of cutting-edge animal models for a variety of high consequence viral hemorrhagic fevers including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, Rift Valley fever, and paramyxoviruses.
Specialty Focus
Zoonotic virus spillover and countermeasures - My projects span the globe and are primarily focused on the detection of zoonotic viral hemorrhagic fevers through comprehensive One Health approaches to disease surveillance, and the development of innovative and transformative vaccine countermeasures ranging from the world's first recombinant rationally designed vaccine for humans for Rift Valley fever, to ground-breaking advances in transmissible vaccines to eliminate the threat of Lassa fever and ebolaviruses from their natural evolutionary reservoir hosts.
Ten Recent Publications

2023
Whitlock AOB, Bird BH, Ghersi B, Davison AJ, Hughes J, Nichols J, Vucak M, Amara E, Bangura J, Lavalie EG, Kanu MC, Kanu OT, Sjodin A, Remien CH, Nuismer SL
Identifying the genetic basis of viral spillover using Lassa virus as a test case

2022
Martinez S, Sullivan A, Hagan E, Goley J, Epstein JH, Olival KJ, Saylors K, Euren J, Bangura J, Zikankuba S, Mouiche MMM, Camara AO, Desmond J, Islam A, Hughes T, Wacharplusadee S, Duong V, Nga NTT, Bird B, Goldstein T, Wolking D, Johnson CK, Mazet JAK, Olson SH,Fine AE, Valitutto M, Karesh WB, Daszak P, Francisco L, PREDICT Consortium
Living Safely With Bats: Lessons in Developing and Sharing a Global One Health Educational Resource

2022
Fieldhouse JK, Randhawa N, Fair E, Bird B, Smith W, Mazet JAK
One Health timeliness metrics to track and evaluate outbreak response reporting: A scoping review

2022
Pandit PS, Anthony SJ, Goldstein T, Olival KJ, Doyle MM, Gardner NR, Bird B, Smith W, Wolking D, Gilardi K, Monagin C, Kelly T, Uhart MM, Epstein JH, Machalaba C, Rostal MK, Dawson P, Hagan E, Sullivan A , Li H, Chmura AA, Latinne A, Lange C, O’Rourke T, Olson S, Keatts L, Mendoza AP, Perez A, Dejuste de Paula C, Zimmerman D, Valitutto M, LeBreton M, McIver D, Islam A, Duong V, Mouiche M, Shi Z, Mulembakani P, Kumakamba C, Ali M, Kebede N, Tamoufe U, Bel-Nono S, Camara A, Pamungkas J, Coulibaly KJ, Abu-Basha E, Kamau J, Silithammavong S, Desmond J, Hughes T, Shiilegdamba E, Aung O, Karmacharya D, Nziza J, Ndiaye D, Gbakima A, Sajali Z, Wacharapluesadee S, Robles EA, Ssebide B, Suzán G, Aguirre LF, Solorio MR, DholeTN, Nga NTT, Hitchens PL, Joly DO, Saylors K, Fine A, Murray S, Karesh WB, Daszak P, Mazet JAK, PREDICT Consortium, Johnson CK
Predicting the potential for zoonotic transmission and host associations for novel viruses

2022
Campbell CL, Snell TK, Bennett S, Wyckoff JH, Heaslip D, Flatt J, Harris EK, Hartman DA, Lian E, Bird BH, Stenglein MD, Bowen RA, Kading RC
Safety study of Rift Valley Fever human vaccine candidate (DDVax) in mosquitoes.

2022
Rodriguez SE, Hawman DW, Sorvillo TE, O'Neal TJ, Bird BH, Rodriguez LL, Bergeron É, Nichol ST, Montgomery JM, Spiropoulou CF, Spengler JR
Immunobiology of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.

2022
Vucak M, Bangura J, Ghersi BM, Nichols J, Hughes J, da Silva Filipe A, Tremeau-Bravard A, Wolking DJ, Amara E, Bangura A, Kanu MC, Kanu OT, Kargbo D, Lavalie EG, Lungay V, Robert W, Turay M, Fornie S, Samba TT, Sesay BB, Swaray P, Vandi MA, Bah MA, Mansaray AA, Bird BH, Davison AJ
Genome Sequences of Five Arenaviruses from Pygmy Mice (Mus minutoides) in Sierra Leone.

2021
Basinski AJ, Fichet-Calvet E, Sjodin AR, Varrelman TJ, Remien CH, Layman NC, Bird BH, Wolking DJ, Monagin C, Ghersi BM, Barry PA, Jarvis MA, Gessler PE, Nuismer SL
Bridging the gap: Using reservoir ecology and human serosurveys to estimate Lassa virus spillover in West Africa

2020
Roug A, Muse EA, Clifford DL, Paul G, Mpanduji D, Makingi G, Magesa W, Josephat E, Mazet J, Bird B, Mathayo D, Kazwala R, Kiwango H, Smith W
Health of African Buffalos (Syncerus caffer) in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

2020
Nuismer SL, Basinski A, Remien CH, Layman N, Rosenke K, Bird BH, Jarvis M, Barry P, Fichet-Calvet E
Bayesian estimation of Lassa virus epidemiological parameters: implications for spillover prevention using wildlife vaccination