Kirsten St. George, PhD
Research Interests
Dr. St. George is Director of Virology and Chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases (LVD) at the Wadsworth Center, and a Clinical Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Integrated Health Sciences, University at Albany. Comprised of service laboratories and research teams in general virology, viral encephalitis, enteric viruses, vaccine preventable diseases and antiviral resistance, the LVD detects and characterizes viruses for clinical, reference and surveillance purposes, and the investigation of outbreaks and emerging pathogens. Testing includes classical and molecular techniques, many of which were developed in the LVD. The laboratory is also responsible for complex public health data management and federal reporting, and provides training for graduate students, fellows, and international laboratory trainees.
Dr. St. George is also the Principal Investigator for national reference centers for Influenza Surveillance, Vaccine Preventable Diseases, and Influenza Antiviral Resistance, and has federal funding and corporate support for additional surveillance programs and diagnostic development. She is also Scientific Director of the New York State Sequencing Consortium, comprised of four academic medical centers and the Wadsworth Center, and is the Laboratory Lead for the New York State Wastewater Surveillance Center of Excellence. Within the LVD, Dr. St. George also directs the Research and Development Group, investigating and developing new testing platforms and chemistries, and overseeing the genomic characterization and evolutionary study of multiple viruses.
Dr. St. George has appointments on several national and international advisory committees and boards, she is the author of more than 200 publications and a Fellow of the American Association for Microbiology. She is the recipient of five New York State Commissioner Awards for her response work on major disease outbreaks, the 2017 international Career Achievement Award in Diagnostic Virology from the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology, the 2018 University of South Australia Alumni Award for distinguished innovation and pioneering work, and the 2025 Gold Standard Award for technical advancement of public health laboratory science from the Association of Public Health Laboratories.