Charles Pavia received his B.S. from Fordham University (Bronx, N.Y.) in Biology, and his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. Following his graduate work, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Dan Stites at the University California San Francisco School of Medicine, followed by a research associate position at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where he was a recipient of a National Research Council Resident Research Associateship Award.
Prior to working at NYITCOM, Pavia was an Associate Professor at New York Medical College. Throughout his career, he has focused his research on various pathogenic microbes with a particular emphasis on the disease-causing spirochetes and certain protozoan pathogens. His research has covered multiple areas including the basic microbiologic, immunologic, molecular, diagnostic and clinical aspects of Lyme disease, malaria, toxoplasmosis, and Q fever. As a principal investigator or co-investigator, he has received research funding from the NIH, the CDC, the J.M. Foundation, and other organizations to support his research activities.
Pavia’s teaching areas of expertise include bacterial and parasitic pathogens, epidemiology, and immunology. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as a grant reviewer for the NIH and other organizations. He has reviewed submitted manuscripts for a wide range of peer-reviewed scientific journals, as either a member of their editorial board or as an ad-hoc reviewer. Pavia teaches both in the lecture-based discussion curriculum and the problem-based learning/DPC curriculum.
Recent Projects/Research
- Treatment and Prevention of Lyme Disease: Studies are being conducted on the infectivity and immune responses against the bacterium that causes Lyme disease with an aim towards developing improved treatment and prevention options. He also examines methods of eradicating potential environmental bacterial pathogens that may contaminate certain food products and water
Publications
- Pavia CS, Plummer MM. 2017. Was it authentic Lyme disease or some other disorder? Pathog Dis. Apr 1;75(3). doi: 10.1093/femspd/ftx028.
- Delfiner MS, Martinez LR, Pavia CS. 2016. A Gram Stain Hands-On Workshop Enhances First Year Medical Students' Technique Competency in Comprehension and Memorization. PLoS One. Oct 6;11(10):e0163658.
- Plummer, M and Pavia, C. May 2016. Coccidioidomycosis. In Domino FJ (Ed.), The 5-minute Clinical Consult 2016, Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health.
- Pavia CS, 2015. Microbiologic and Clinical Aspects of the Pathogenic Spirochetes. In, Practical Handbook of Microbiology, 3rd edition. Editors: Green, LH & Goldman, E, Taylor and Francis Group, LLC., pages 353-370.
- Pavia CS and Wormser GP. 2014. Culture of the entire mouse to determine whether cultivable Borrelia burgdorferi persists in infected mice treated with a five-day course of ceftriaxone. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 58(11):6701-3.
View a complete list of publications
Honors and Awards
- 2015 – Designated Course Director in charge of putting together a Foundations of Medicine-type 3-credit course for a group of 15 Brazilian medical students who were visiting New York Tech during the 2014-2015 academic year; I set up the weekly schedule of lecture topics to be given by several recruited faculty members, arranged for written course documents to be given to the students, and compiled 2 written exams which measured their performance in the course.
- Recipient of several privately funded and governmental research awards
- Certificate of Excellence in Reviewing for the Journal of Microbiological Methods in 2013
- NBOME Item Writer of the Year (2008) Award for COMLEX USA Level 1
- NYITCOM Academic Senate President: 2006-2007 and 2008-2009.
Course Taught at New York Tech
- Assists in team-taught courses given to first- and second-year medical students, help organize the lecture sequence, give several microbiology lectures on enteric, respiratory, neurological and STD pathogens, opportunistic, parasitic and zoonotic infections, microbial lab diagnosis, related aspects of epidemiology, and on certain topics of immunology.
- "Facilitator" in the problem-based learning/DPC portion of our academic program in the doctor-patient continuum curriculum since its inception in 2005.
- "Thread Coordinator/Associate Director" for the Cellular & Molecular Basis of Medicine portion of the Hematology/Immunology. Dermatology course given to the first-year class