USA Health adds infectious disease physician with extensive clinical and research experience
She has led multiple clinical trials related to antivirals and is extensively published in peer-reviewed journals. She currently serves as editor of infectious diseases for Scientific Reports, the fifth most-cited journal in the world.
By Michelle Ryan
mryan@health.southalabama.edu
Dahlene Fusco, M.D., Ph.D., an infectious disease physician with extensive clinical and research experience, recently joined USA Health. She will also serve as an associate professor of internal medicine at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine.
“I developed an interest in infectious diseases when I noticed how many clinically relevant pathogens are still in need of tolerable treatments,” she said. “I have dedicated most of my research to identification of pre-clinal targets for antivirals, as well as understanding of host-virus interactions.”
Fusco, who is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases, both by the American Board of Internal Medicine, was drawn to working in an academic health system for several reasons.
“I chose to work in an academic medical center because this provides opportunities to meet with patients and identify their evolving clinical needs related to infectious diseases, provide clinical trial access to interested patients, and interact closely with researchers in microbiology and immunology to accelerate collaborative work and pathogen countermeasure development,” she said.
Fusco graduated with a degree in physics and philosophy from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She completed medical school and a Ph.D. in structural biology, both at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in The Bronx, New York. A residency in internal medicine followed at Massachusetts General Hospital, the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, in Boston. She completed her training with a fellowship in infectious disease at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, New York.
Fusco brings extensive research experience in virology and host-virus interactions, and since her first junior faculty position in 2010, she has been devoted to cultivating diversity and promoting outreach in the field.
She has led multiple clinical trials related to antivirals and is extensively published in peer-reviewed journals. She serves as editor of infectious diseases for Scientific Reports, the fifth most-cited journal in the world.
In New Orleans, Fusco helped open one of the first COVID clinics in 2020. In July 2022, she assisted in establishing a floating Mpox response team to treat patients with the virus there. At that time, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern due to its rapid spread, new transmission methods, and presence in countries where it had not previously been seen.
Fusco has experience treating AIDS, blood infections, cancer-related infections, COVID-19, Hepatitis B and C, Lyme disease, malaria, confirmed parasitic infections, wound infections and more.
She is accepting new patients at the Mastin Internal Medicine Clinic, 2451 University Hospital Drive, Suite 102 in Mobile. To schedule an appointment, call 251-470-5890.
