Aetiology : About

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Tara C. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology. Her research involves a number of pathogens at the animal-human nexus. Additionally, she is the founder of Iowa Citizens for Science and also writes for The Panda's Thumb and previously for WIRED SCIENCE's Correlations. Please note the views expressed on this site are Dr. Smith's alone and may not be representative of the groups mentioned above.

"...a veritable expert on tawdry cosmetic procedures gone horribly awry..."--Kevin Beck

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Infectious Disease Series

Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses series

Did Yersinia pestis really cause the Black Death? series

Pandemic Influenza Series

"The Basics" series

About

Aetiology is a web log discussing a wide variety of issues pertaining to the science of biology. While much of the focus is on the epidemiology of infectious disease or general microbiology, these are fields that lend themselves to discussion of a much wider range of topics: general epidemiology, vaccines, medicine, public health, pseudoscience, and politics, just to name a handful. A discussion of the microbial world reaches into many facets of our everyday lives.

Tara C. Smith is currently an assistant professor of Epidemiology in Iowa. Born and raised in Findlay, Ohio, Tara received her B.S. in Biology from Yale University in 1998. A "temporary" stint as a technician led to a Ph.D. in microbial pathogenesis and virulence factor regulation in Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus) at the Medical University of Ohio in Toledo. She completed post-doctoral training in molecular epidemiology at the University of Michigan. Her current research centers includes projects investigating the epidemiology and molecular biology of Streptococcus agalactiae, E. coli, Streptococcus suis, and Staphylococcus aureus. Additional interests include microbial ecology, emerging diseases, zoonoses, and infectious causes of chronic disease.

Tara has also spent a lot of time discussing the value of teaching evolution, and educating others about "intelligent design" and other forms of creationism. She writes for The Panda's Thumb and WIRED SCIENCE's Correlations, and is the founder of Iowa Citizens for Science and the mother of two young children.

In addition to publishing in scientific journals, she has written books on the topics of Ebola, group A streptococcus, and group B streptococcus. A recent interview discussing many of the topics above can be found here, and Dr. Smith's wikipedia biography can be found here.

Posts prior to January 2006 can be found at the original Blogger site. Posts relating to her lab and teaching can be found at her laboratory website, Emergence.