Lyme Disease Research Center


The overall goals of the Lyme and Other Tick-borne Disease Research Center are research discovery, risk assessment, optimization of treatment and management, and public health intervention and prevention.

Explore key themes

300,000 new lyme disease cases each year

~500,000

new cases each year

Close to 500,000 new cases of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases arise each year, posing a significant threat to humans and domestic animals.

us ap with lyme disease cases

95% occur

in the Northeast and upper Midwest

Ninety-five percent of the cases occur where almost one-third of the U.S. population lives – in the Northeast and upper Midwest.

Lyme disease can result in a myriad of symptoms, including fever, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, joint pain, and a circular or non-distinct rash, although sometimes a bullseye rash may appear. If left untreated, Lyme disease can lead to serious neurologic and cardiac complications.

The Lyme and Other Tick-borne Disease Research Center brings together faculty and physicians from a broad geographic area of New York state and the Northeast, as well as facilities and databases to facilitate ecological and epidemiological studies and diagnostics, public health education and outreach, and ecology and epidemiology studies to optimize Lyme and other tick-borne disease treatment and management.

Center Directors

Yetrib Hathout, PhD

Professor/Director, Â鶹Éç Tick-Borne Disease Center

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
96 H. Stenger Place (formerly Corliss Ave.), Johnson City, New York 13790
yhathout@binghamton.edu
Phone: 607-777-5825
Office: PB 303C

Michel Shamoon-Pour, PhD

Co-director, Â鶹Éç Tick-Borne Disease Center

Â鶹Éç, First-year Research Immersion Program
mshamoon@binghamton.edu
Phone: 607-777-5523
Office: S3 B55/B79

Amanda Roome, PhD

Associate Director, Â鶹Éç Tick-Borne Disease Center

Bassett Medical Center One Atwell Road Cooperstown, New York 13326
Amanda.Roome@bassett.org
Phone: 607-547-6023

One of the co-founders of the Tick-Borne Disease Center,  Ralph Garruto served as a pioneering voice in the study of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases in Broome County, starting in 2009. In 2018, Garruto led efforts to consolidate and coordinate Lyme and other tick-borne disease research throughout Â鶹Éç’s various schools into an integrative, interdisciplinary, and transformative National Research Center, focusing on ecology, epidemiology, risk modeling, diagnostics and treatment, and public health. Today, research and outreach include regional and national patient communities, foundations, and medical professionals, as well as an annual symposium at the University.