Viveka Vadyvaloo

Dr. Viveka Vadyvaloo is a prominent infectious disease researcher specializing in the transmission of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium causing bubonic plague, via fleas and its persistence in the environment. She earned her PhD in Biochemistry (or bacterial genetics) from Stellenbosch University in South Africa in 2003, followed by postdoctoral training at UCLA and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Rocky Mountain Laboratories. Since joining Washington State University in 2010 as the first faculty member of the Paul G. Allen School for Global Health, she has become a tenured professor and was appointed Director of the school on July 1, 2025.[1][2][3][4]