David O. Freedman MD

David O. Freedman is Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and founded the UAB Travelers Health Clinic in 1989. He is Past-President, Clinical Group American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) and Past Secretrary-Treasurer of the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM). He is an Editor of the Textbook of Travel Medicine now in its 3rd Edition; Associate Editor, Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Travel Medicine. For 20 years he was Director of the global GeoSentinel Surveillance Network which he co-founded and which maintains the largest database of ill travelers available. He also directs the Gorgas Course in Clinical Tropical Medicine given annualy in Peru. He is a co-author of the IDSA Clinical Practice Guidelines on Travel Medicine.

His research focuses on clinical tropical medicine and immuno-parasitology, including the development of surveillance networks to characterize infectious disease morbidity in travelers and migrants. He is funded by industry, government and multinational corporations for emerging infections, risk mitigation, and medical facilities preparedness.

He was a Member of the VA Merit Review Infectious Diseases Study Section (1997-2000), Chair of the Advisory Panel on Parasitic Diseases of the US Pharmacopeia (1995-2000), and a Councilor of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (1998-2002). Funded research projects have been completed in India, Guatemala, Ghana, Brazil, and Peru in addition to the 24 countries where GeoSentinel sites have been established.