Vivien Dugan was an ARCS Scholar at the University of Georgia during the 2004-2005 academic year. During her final semester of doctoral research, Dr. Dugan was recruited for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) -funded Postdoctoral Fellowship position in Washington, DC, to study the origins of pandemic and H5N1 avian influenza viruses with collaborative mentors at The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and The Institute for Genomic Research.

In 2006, she transitioned to the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH in Bethesda, MD, to continue studying the evolution of pandemic and avian influenza viruses, including the 1918 ‘Spanish flu’ and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza virus (‘swine flu’). In 2010 she joined the J. Craig Venter Institute (Rockville, MD) as an Assistant Professor of Viral Genomics where she expanded her research of influenza viruses at the human-animal interface and branched into synthetic biology, vaccine development, and the genomics of mosquito-transmitted viruses.

Now an NIH Program Officer in the Office of Genomics and Advanced Technologies, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, NIAID, her program is focused on Functional Genomics (understanding the functions of unknown genes in pathogens) and applying novel, advanced technologies to develop medical diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for combating infectious diseases and responding to emerging public health threats. 

Vivien G. Dugan M.S., Ph.D. 
ARCS Scholar
UGA
2004-2005