Lives of Consequence
Dr. Phyllis Launer Kozarsky '74
An expert in infectious diseases, Dr. Phyllis Launer Kozarsky ’74 is a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine and has been at Emory for more than 30 years. A dedicated clinician, researcher and educator, she is a consultant to the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine with the Centers for Disease Control and is the founder and medical director of TravelWell, a clinic that serves individuals who are traveling internationally, as well as immigrants and refugees.
During her second year at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Kozarsky met a teaching assistant working toward her Ph.D. in neurobiology. Kozarsky had a gift for foreign languages, a desire to help others, and loved to travel, but had no intention to go into the field of medicine.
“I had never even considered any scientific field, and certainly never considered medicine,” she says. “But those few conversations, the support and mentoring, encouraged me to diversify. Now with more than 30 years as faculty in medicine at Emory University, I remember and am thankful. Working not only in infectious diseases, but in global health, tropical and travel medicine, has enabled me to combine various strengths and passions.”
Kozarsky graduated with a biology degree from William Smith College, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the psychology club. She earned a medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and is certified in Tropical Medicine and Travel Medicine.
Her expertise includes pre-travel health advice and education, including immunizations and/or medicines to prevent disease; post-travel illness; global health, migration and quarantine; tropical medicine; and the epidemiology of travel related infections and infectious diseases in general.
Beyond Kozarsky's clinical commitment at Emory, she has been active in the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, as well as the International Society of Travel Medicine, where she has served as chair of the Professional Education Committee, the ISTM Examination Committee, and most recently as chair of the Continuous Professional Development Committee. She has been active in the development of an international standard of care and a body of knowledge for the clinical practice of travel medicine.
A co-founder of the International Society of Travel Medicine, Kozarsky is a principal investigator of GeoSentinel, a global network of tropical and travel medicine clinics that monitors trends in travel related illness and emerging diseases in travelers, immigrants, and refugees. In her role, she helped build a network of 68 clinics worldwide and helped to orchestrate global surveillance. A well published author, she has been the chief medical editor of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yellow book, Health Information for International Travel since its 2008 edition, and is frequently quoted in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, WebMD and CNN.