James C Dunford

PhD, MS, BA

Lieutenant Commander, Navy

Department of Primary Appointment:
School of Medicine
Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics
Title
Medical Entomologist
Location: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD
Research Interests:
Vector surveillance and control, vector pathogen screening
arthropod biology, ecology, taxonomy and systematics
Office Phone

Education

U.S. Navy Director’s Training Fellowship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA-2011-2013
Ph.D. in Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL-2007
M.S. in Entomology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI-2000
B.A. in Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI-1996

Biography

LCDR James Dunford hails from Wisconsin and had an interest in science at an early age. His academic background includes a Bachelor’s Degree (1996) in Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Master’s Degree (2000) in Entomology at the University Wisconsin-Madison, and Ph.D. (2007) in Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida. While attending UF, he taught courses on insect identification and general entomology, and was recipient of departmental, college-wide, and national teaching awards. During his Ph.D., he was selected as recipient of the Navy’s Health Care Collegiate Scholarship and was commissioned as an officer in the Medical Service Corps in 2008. He was assigned to the Navy Entomology Center of Excellence, Jacksonville, FL from 2008-2011 where he served as Assistant Department Head in the Testing and Evaluation Department. His duties included discovery of novel methods and best practices to protect deployed warfighters from exposures to disease-transmitting insects. During this tour he deployed with the Army in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, traveling throughout Afghanistan as 62nd Medical Brigade’s Theater Entomologist and member of the Cooperative Medical Assistance team; he was awarded a Defense Meritorious Service Medal for leading nearly 50 joint missions. Following this tour he was recipient of a DUINS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Fellowship where he served from 2011-2013 working alongside world class scientists in the CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Atlanta, GA. His work included research in support of the President’s Malaria Initiative, and his accomplishments included development of the Division’s first instructional video on insecticide resistance monitoring, a new student internship program, and publications as lead investigator on interagency projects that focused on the prevention of vector-borne disease. His efforts earned him the Center for Global Health’s 2012 Excellence in Partnering Award. LCDR Dunford was then assigned to the Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit 2, Norfolk, VA from 2013-2015 where he served as Entomology Division Officer and Forward Deployable Preventive Medicine Unit Disease Vector component lead. His team was deployed in support of joint exercise Bold Alligator 2014 and he also deployed in support of humanitarian/civic assistance mission Operation Continuing Promise 2015 aboard the USNS COMFORT (T-AH 20). He led subject matter expert exchanges in 11 countries throughout SOUTHCOM during the six-month mission earning his 4th Navy Commendation Medal. LCDR Dunford was then assigned to the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center, Portsmouth, VA where he was Head of the Program and Policy Support Department. His team was staffed by environmental health officers, civilian environmental health specialists, preventive medicine officers, and epidemiologists that provided expertise on an array of topics that impact preventive medicine and environmental health programs across the Navy and Marine Corps. He was also Forward Deployable Preventive Medicine Unit Disease Vector Component Manager, training and equipping environmental specialists to forward deploy in support of combat/humanitarian missions. In 2016-17 he was awarded four grants from the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch to conduct mosquito surveillance and pathogen testing in SOUTHCOM to improve disease risk analyses and Force Health Protection guidance. He is currently assigned to the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and holds an Assistant Professor appointment in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics.

Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployements, Awards and Additional Publications

Navy Entomology Specialty Leader 2019-present

USUHS Faculty Senate-Basic Science Senator; Faculty Senate Research Policy Committee Co-Chair, Faculty Senate Education Committee: 2019-present

USUHS Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics Strategic Planning Committee Co-Chair: 2019-present

Adjunct Assistant Professor-Old Dominion University, College of Health Sciences, School of Community and Environmental Health: 2016-present

Head-Preventive Medicine Program and Policy Support Department, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center: 2015-2018

Disease Vector Component Manager-FDPMU, Expeditionary Platforms Department, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center: 2015-2018

Instructor-University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Entomology and Nematology Department: 2001-2006

Deployments: Continuing Promise 2015; Operation Enduring Freedom-Cooperative Medical Assistance Team, Theater Entomologist 2010

Meritorious Service Medal 2018, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center Junior Officer of the Year 2017

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Global Health, Excellence in Partnering Award 2013

Representative Bibliography

Dunford, J.C., Estep, A.S., Waits, C.M., Richardson, A.G., Hoel, D.F., Horn, K., Walker, T.W., Blersch, J.S., Kerce, J.D., and R.A. Wirtz. 2018. Evaluation of the long-term efficacy of K-Othrine® PolyZone on three surfaces against laboratory reared Anopheles gambiae Giles in semi-field conditions. Malaria Journal: 17:94. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-018-2239-z.

White, S. K. Lednicky, J.A., Okech, B.A., Morris Jr., J. G., and J. C. Dunford. 2018. Detection and Sequencing of Spondweni virus in field-caught Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes, Haiti 2016. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 24 (9) 1765-1767.

White, S. K., Mavian, C., Salemi. M., Morris Jr., J. G., Okech, B.A., Lednicky, J.A., and J. C. Dunford. 2018. A new “American” subgroup of African-lineage Chikungunya virus detected in and isolated from mosquitoes collected in Haiti, 2016. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 13(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196857

Dunford, J.C., Falconer, A., Leite, L.N., Wirtz, R.W., and W.G. Brogdon. 2016. Determination of insecticidal effect (LC50 and LC90) of organic fatty acids mixture (C8910+silicone) against Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae). Journal of Medical Entomology 53(3): 699-702. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjv239.

Hoel, D.F., Dunford, J.C., Kline, D.L., Irish, S.R., Weber, M., Richardson, A.G., Doud, C.W., and R.A. Wirtz. 2015. A comparison of carbon dioxide sources for mosquito capture in CDC traps on the Florida Gulf Coast. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association: 31(3): 248-257.

Hoel, D.F., Marika, J.A., Dunford, J.C., Irish, S.E., Geier, M., Obermayr, U., and R.A. Wirtz. 2014. Optimizing collection of Anopheles gambiae s.s. (Diptera: Culicidae) in Biogent Sentinel traps. Journal of Medical Entomology 51(6): 1268-1275.

Dunford, J.C., J.C. Turbyville, and J.M. Leavengood, Jr. 2014. Checklist of Medically Important Hymenoptera of Afghanistan. Insecta Mundi 0339. 1-13.

Dunford, J.C., Stoops, C.A., Estep, A.S., Britch, S.C., Richardson, A.G., Walker, T.W., Farooq, Hoel, D.F., Platt, R.R., Smith, V.M., Wirtz, R.A., and J.D. Kerce. 2014. SR450 Superhawk XP applications of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis de Barjac against Culex quinquefasciatus Say. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 30(3): 191-198.

Dunford, J.C., Wirtz, R.A., Reifenrath, W.G., Falconer, A., Leite, L.N., and W.G. Brogdon. 2014. Determination of insecticidal effect (LCD50 and LCD90) of organic fatty acids mixture (C8910+silicone) against malaria vectors. Journal of Parasitology and Vector Biology 6(9): 131-141.

Turbyville, J.C., Dunford, J.C., and M.R. Nelson. 2013. Hymenoptera of Afghanistan and the central command area of operations: assessing the threat to deployed U.S. service members with insect venom hypersensitivity. Allergy and Asthma Proceedings 34: 179-184.