
Joann M. McDermid
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Medicine: Infectious Diseases and International Health
Education
- BS, Nutrition & Food Science, University of Alberta
- MSc, Dietetics & Human Nutrition, McGill University, Montreal, P.Q., CANADA
- Diploma, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, P.Q., CANADA
- RD, MS, Clinical Nutrition, Kingston General Hospital
- PhD, Epidemiology & Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Contact Information
MR4 Room 2134, PO Box 801320
Div of Infectious Diseases & International Health
Charlottesville, VA 22908
Telephone: 434-924-5995
Email: joann.mcdermid@virginia.edu
Research Interests
Nutrition and major global infectious diseases; HIV/AIDS; tuberculosis and other respiratory infections; Cryptosporidium and other enteric infections
Research Description
I am interested in the complex interactions between dietary intake, nutritional health and infectious diseases. At UVA, I supervise student-led clinical research studies on: 1) the early post-partum breast milk microbiome and the developing neonatal intestinal microbiome; and 2) the evaluation of methodologies to estimate infant breast milk volume consumption in a healthy community-based population. Internationally, I conduct research within multidisciplinary collaborations examining the role of breast milk immunology (The Gambia, Zambia) and maternal-infant nutrient supplementation (Tanzania) on early infancy health and infectious disease outcomes. Additionally, long-standing work in The Gambia on iron and infection has led to a current focus on identifying differences in pathogen iron-handling by Mycobacterium africanuum as a contributing factor to explain, in part, disease phenotype differences.