Our Saint Louis University Infectious Diseases faculty physicians are recognized national and international experts in treating various diseases and immune deficiency disorders. They are actively involved in developing and updating national and international patient care guidelines for improved diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
Our board-certified ABIM faculty are very experienced and treat a wide range of patients with a variety of cases.

Getahun Abate, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases
Dr. Getahun Abate is an infectious diseases specialist who practices general infectious diseases. His research interest is mycobacterial diseases and emerging infectious diseases.

Sarah George, M.D.
Professor of Infectious Diseases
Dr. Sarah George, professor of infectious diseases, practices general infectious disease and HIV care. She has been the principal investigator on 10 National Institute of Health and industry-sponsored clinical trials, conducting phase I-III vaccine and treatment trials on COVID-19, dengue, Zika, yellow fever, influenza, chikungunya, and pneumococcus. Her NIH- and Veterans Administration-funded laboratory research measures immunity to flavivirus vaccines and infections; she has also worked on HIV/flavivirus coinfections. Dr. George has a joint appointment at the St. Louis VA Medical Center.

Geoffrey Gorse, M.D.
Adjunct Professor and Emeritus Professor of Medicine
Dr. Geoffrey Gorse has been a faculty member in the ID division at SLU since 1989. He serves as an attending physician in inpatient and outpatient clinical care activities and didactic and patient-based teaching. He is interested in evaluating, treating and preventing respiratory virus infections and has been an investigator on many viral vaccine clinical studies.

Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D.
Division Director of Infectious Diseases and Allergy & Immunology
Dr. Daniel Hoft is a professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. His specialty area is infectious diseases, with a particular interest in tuberculosis. This aligns with his research interest in vaccine development employing precision medicine methods. Dr. Hoft received his medical education from the University of Missouri. He completed his internal medicine, infectious disease and Ph.D. training in microbiology/immunology from the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. In 2018, he was named a fellow of the Academy of Science of St Louis for excellence in public communication, mentoring, and leadership in the field of infectious diseases and vaccine research.

Rong Hou, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases
Dr. Rong Hou is an attending physician in inpatient clinical care activities, didactic and patient-based teaching.

Brett Jagger, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases
Dr. Jagger joined SSM-SLU in January of 2023 and attends on the inpatient infectious diseases consult service. During his Ph.D. and fellowship training, he researched influenza A virus molecular pathogenesis and the preclinical development of arbovirus vaccines. He is a co-investigator with SLU's NIH Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU). He is interested in developing vaccines for emerging arboviruses and better vaccination strategies for seasonal respiratory viruses.

Nongnooch Poowanawittayakom, M.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases
Dr. Nongnooch Poowanawittayakom, M.D., M.P.H., is an assistant professor and attending physician in the infectious diseases division at SLU. She chairs the infection control committee and provides transplant and general infectious disease inpatient and outpatient consultations. Her infectious disease fellowship and public health training (including a global health certificate) were at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, and she attended the Mahidol University Medical School in Bangkok, Thailand. Her clinical interests include managing hepatitis C, HIV, fungal infections in immunocompromised hosts and bone and joint infections.