USF names new dean for the USF Health College of Public Health

Dr. Sten Vermund will bring decades of infectious disease epidemiology and prevention
experience to USF

The University of South Florida today announced the appointment of Sten Vermund, MD, PhD, as the new dean of the
USF Health College of Public Health.

Dr. Vermund joins USF after serving as the Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health,
as dean of the Yale School of Public Health from 2017 to 2022, and as professor in
pediatrics and clinical professor in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences
at the Yale School of Medicine. He is also the current president of the Global Virus
Network, which recently moved its international headquarters to USF.

Dr. Vermund will join USF in January 2025 as Distinguished University Health Professor,
senior associate vice president of USF Health, and dean. The College of Public Health, which consists of approximately 4,700 students and more than 400 faculty and support
staff, is among four colleges and a faculty medical practice plan that make up USF Health.

“We are incredibly fortunate that Dr. Sten Vermund has agreed to become the next dean
of the USF Health College of Public Health, and I am confident that he will elevate
Florida’s first and finest College of Public Health to even greater heights,” said
Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, executive vice president of USF Health and dean of
the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “I also want to express our deep gratitude
to Dr. Donna Petersen for her 20 years of inspiring and energetic leadership as dean.
She has shaped COPH into the powerhouse it is today, and we are forever in her debt.”

During Dr. Vermund’s time as dean at Yale, the public health school experienced its largest jump in the national rankings in
more than a decade, garnered unprecedented development funds, and reorganized and
expanded the school’s Office of Public Health Practice to provide students with more
guidance and internship opportunities to improve their prospects for future jobs.

Dr. Vermund’s work as an infectious disease epidemiologist and pediatrician is extensive;
he has published more than 600 peer-reviewed publications and serves on the editorial
boards of several major academic journals.

He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, a Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for
Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Dr. Vermund’s work has focused on diseases of resource-limited settings, including
HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (especially HPV), COVID-19, and parasitic
diseases. Also of interest are disease control and prevention, including HIV prevention
clinical trials and implementation science to increase coverage and quality of services.

He served as principal investigator of several collaborative efforts: the Adolescent
Medicine HIV/AIDS Research Network, the NIH Prevention Trials Network, U.S. HIV/AIDS
programs in Zambia, Nigeria, and Mozambique (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief or PEPFAR), and the Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholars and Fellows
Program.

Prior to his work at Yale, Dr. Vermund was vice president for global health at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center. In addition to his career in academics, Dr. Vermund was
chief of the epidemiology branch for the National Institutes of Health/National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Division of AIDS from 1988 to 1994.

“My connections with several faculty at USF’s College of Public Health and Morsani
College of Medicine run deep,” Dr. Vermund said. “It is a privilege to join them and
my new colleagues in our efforts to train the next generation of public and global
health leaders. The research at USF is phenomenal and the service to our state is
inspiring. I thank all those who have made it possible for me to join the USF family.”

Dr. Vermund earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in human biology with distinction from
Stanford University; his MD degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva
University, Bronx, NY; and his doctorate in epidemiology from Columbia University,
New York, NY.

Specializing in pediatrics, Dr. Vermund conducted both a pediatric internship and
residency at Presbyterian (Babies) Hospital, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

He is married to Pilar Vargas, MD, PhD, and they have two adult sons.