Stephen Rich

Professor of Microbiology and Director of the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEWVEC) University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • Amherst MA

Stephen Rich studies zoonotic diseases, with a focus on tick-borne diseases and human malaria. He is the director TickReport.

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University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Expertise

Powassan
Vector-Borne Diseases
Ticks and Tick Borne Diseases
Parasitic diseases
Malaria Research
Zoonotic Diseases
Alpha-gal
Lyme Disease

Biography

Stephen Rich studies zoonotic diseases, with a focus on tick- and mosquito-borne diseases including Lyme disease and human malaria.

He is the director of TickReport, a professional tick-testing service that the public can use to determine if a particular tick carries disease-causing pathogens. His work is providing insights into what populations of people are being bitten by ticks, when and where, and what pathogens those ticks are carrying.

Stephen Rich's expertise on tick-borne disease, including Lyme disease, Anaplasma and Babesia, has made him a go-to expert for commentary and predictions on the risks of these diseases.

He directs the Laboratory of Medical Zoology at UMass Amherst, that focuses on infectious diseases, with particular attention to those diseases with transmission cycles that involve other animal species.

Social Media

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Education

University of California Irvine

Ph.D.

Biological Sciences

Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health

S.M.

Tropical Medicine

University of Vermont

M.S.

Zoology

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Select Recent Media Coverage

Mosquito-borne diseases are surging in Europe — how worried are scientists?

Nature  online

2024-09-16

Stephen Rich, director of the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases, comments in additional reporting on mosquito-borne illnesses. “Typically, most of us have an immune system that just knocks it out,” he says, adding that older people and those with compromised immune systems are vulnerable to more severe complications.

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Every Year is a Tick Year

Boston 25 News  tv

2024-08-04

Stephen Rich, professor of microbiology and director of the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases, says ticks still pose a risk even as summer is winding down. “The trend is every year is a tick year. We’ve seen lots of ticks, lots of tick-borne diseases,” Rich says.

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Findings suggest few people get sick after bite from ticks infected with Powassan virus

Medical XPress  online

2024-07-25

Stephen Rich, professor of microbiology, has new research that shows that very few people who get bitten by ticks infected with the Powassan virus actually get sick. “Our findings explain why there may be so few cases of Powassan virus, even as the number of Powassan-positive ticks appears to be increasing,” he says.

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