Department of Infectious Diseases, Office of Academic Affairs, Office of Research and Faculty and Graduate Affairs
Assistant Dean of Preclinical Academic Affairs, Director of DVM-MPH Dual Degree Program, Professor
Expertise
Bacteriology | Infectious Diseases | Microbiology | Vaccinology
Biography
Dr. Hondalus is a graduate from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University, and following graduation, she was an equine and small animal private practitioner. She subsequently completed a Large Animal Internal Medicine Residency at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at Temple Medical School. As a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard School of Public Health working to create an improved vaccine against human tuberculosis, she became more aware of health care disparities nationally and globally and developed a passion for collaborative interdisciplinary efforts to address such inequities. At UGA she has headed an extramurally funded infectious disease research laboratory, trained PhD and MS students, been recognized for excellence in teaching, been a Lilly Teaching Fellow, a Service Learning Fellow and is currently a Women’s Leadership Fellow. In addition to the appointment in the Office of Academic Affairs wherein she oversees the program for first and second year veterinary students, she teaches and also administers the combined DVM-MPH Dual Degree Program, a collaborative effort between the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Public Health.
Research Interests
- Microbial genetics
- Pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Rhodococcus equi
- Vaccine development
Educational Background
- BS (1982), Michigan State University
- DVM (1984), Michigan State University
- PhD (1985), Temple University School of Medicine
Selected Publications
Search PubMed for “hondalus mk”
- Tripathi VN, Harding WC, Willingham-Lane JM, Hondalus MK. Conjugal transfer of a virulence plasmid in the opportunistic intracellular actinomycete Rhodococcus equi. J Bacteriol. 2012 Dec;194(24):6790-801.
- Miranda-Casoluengo R, Coulson GB, Miranda-Casoluengo A, Vázquez-Boland JA, Hondalus MK, Meijer WG. The hydroxamate siderophore rhequichelin is required for virulence of the pathogenic actinomycete Rhodococcus equi. Infect Immun. 2012 Dec;80(12):4106-14.
- Giguère S, Cohen ND, Chaffin MK, Hines SA, Hondalus MK, Prescott JF, Slovis NM. Rhodococcus equi: clinical manifestations, virulence, and immunity. J Vet Intern Med. 2011 Nov-Dec;25(6):1221-30.
- Giguère S, Cohen ND, Chaffin MK, Slovis NM, Hondalus MK, Hines SA, Prescott JF. Diagnosis, treatment, control, and prevention of infections caused by Rhodococcus equi in foals. J Vet Intern Med. 2011 Nov-Dec;25(6):1209-20.
- Sampson SL, Mansfield KG, Carville A, Magee DM, Quitugua T, Howerth EW, Bloom BR, Hondalus MK. Extended safety and efficacy studies of a live attenuated double leucine and pantothenate auxotroph of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a vaccine candidate. Vaccine. 2011 Jun 24;29(29-30):4839-47.
- Farhana A, Guidry L, Srivastava A, Singh A, Hondalus MK, Steyn AJ. Reductive stress in microbes: implications for understanding Mycobacterium tuberculosis disease and persistence. Adv Microb Physiol. 2010;57:43-117.
- Coulson GB, Agarwal S, Hondalus MK. Characterization of the role of the pathogenicity island and vapG in the virulence of the intracellular actinomycete pathogen Rhodococcus equi. Infect Immun. 2010 Aug;78(8):3323-34. doi:10.1128/IAI.00081-10. Epub 2010 May 3.
- Morello M, Krone CL, Dickerson S, Howerth E, Germishuizen WA, Wong YL, Edwards D, Bloom BR, Hondalus MK. Dry-powder pulmonary insufflation in the mouse for application to vaccine or drug studies. Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2009 Sep;89(5):371-7.
- Hong Y, Hondalus MK. Site-specific integration of Streptomyces PhiC31 integrase-based vectors in the chromosome of Rhodococcus equi. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2008 Oct;287(1):63-8.
- Lopez AM, Townsend HG, Allen AL, Hondalus MK. Safety and immunogenicity of a live-attenuated auxotrophic candidate vaccine against the intracellular pathogen Rhodococcus equi. Vaccine. 2008 Feb 13;26(7):998-1009.
