Brian Labus

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Associate Professor, School of Public Health
Master's of Public Health Internship Program Coordinator
Expertise: Infectious disease, Disease surveillance, Outbreak investigation, COVID-19

Biography

Brian Labus is an expert on communicable disease surveillance, disease epidemiology, outbreak investigation, and the use of social media to detect and investigate health problems in the community.

Labus is an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics within 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's School of Public Health. Prior to joining 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ, he spent 15 years as a senior investigator for the Southern Nevada Health District conducting outbreak investigations and disease surveillance, and implementing public health informatics systems. He was the lead public health investigator for the largest outbreak of healthcare-acquired Hepatitis C in U.S. history.

From 2020 to 2023, Labus was selected to serve on Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak's five-member Medical Advisory Team, a statewide task force that helped guide community organizations and businesses on the scientific aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. At 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ, he also a led a team of over 200 student contact tracers and participated in various aspects of the university's coronavirus response.

Labus — a Registered Environmental Health Specialist through the National Environmental Health Association — is currently studying healthcare-acquired infections, including Nevada's Candida auris outbreak, and is helping to create public health workforce development projects for the Silver State.

His research and expertise have been featured in numerous news outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, LA Times, NPR, and more. His work has also been featured in academic and professional publications including the Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Nevada Journal of Public Health, Epidemiology and Infection, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Public Health, 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ
  • M.P.H. in Infectious Diseases, University of California-Berkeley
  • B.S. in Biology, Purdue University

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Brian Labus In The News

Everyday Health
An important advisory committee to the federal government has voted this week to withdraw its support for flu shots containing the preservative thimerosal.
Las Vegas Sun
A 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ expert warns that Nevada's already poor vaccination rates will likely worsen following U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for healthy children and pregnant women.
Las Vegas Sun
The Vaccine Confidence and Demand Improvement Project launched in January through Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding to 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ’s School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. This collaboration between 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ and Nevada’s Division of Public and Behavioral Health aims to reduce vaccine hesitancy among Nevada parents through social media campaigns.
Yahoo!
By now, you have likely heard that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended its testing procedures for milk in the U.S. But the information that has been dispersed online about this change may not have included the entire picture, and may have even been unintentionally misleading or confusing. Even worse, it may have caused parents, who regularly buy milk for their children, unnecessary worry about the safety of milk in the United States.
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