David Kennedy

Assistant Professor of Biology

David Kennedy

Research Summary

Ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, with particular interest in how disease dynamics influence pathogen emergence, virulence evolution, and drug or vaccine resistance.

Huck Graduate Students

Huck Affiliations

Links

Publication Tags

Vaccines Viruses Poultry Pathogens Farms Drug Resistance Marek Disease Industry Virulence Mardivirus Aquaculture Principal Component Analysis Pharmaceutical Preparations Vaccination Pathogen Dust Monitoring Clinical Trials Genetic Drift Markov Chain Monte Carlo Efficacy Resistance Parallel Computing Dna Immune System

Most Recent Papers

What the reproductive number R<sub>0</sub> can and cannot tell us about COVID-19 dynamics

Clara L. Shaw, David A. Kennedy, 2021, Theoretical Population Biology on p. 2-9

Why it matters that the coronavirus is changing -- and what this means for vaccine effectiveness

David Kennedy, 2020,

Virus evolution could undermine a COVID-19 vaccine -- but this can be stopped

A Read, David Kennedy, 2020,

Monitor for COVID-19 vaccine resistance evolution during clinical trials

David A. Kennedy, Andrew F. Read, David A. Kennedy, 2020, PLoS Biology

Molecular epidemiology of Marek’s disease virus in central Pennsylvania, USA

Andrew Bell, David Kennedy, Matthew Jones, Christopher Cairns, Utsav Pandey, Patricia Dunn, Moriah Szpara, Andrew Read, 2019, Virus Evolution

Molecular epidemiology of Marek’s disease virus in central Pennsylvania, USA

Andrew S. Bell, David A. Kennedy, Matthew J. Jones, Christopher L. Cairns, Utsav Pandey, Patricia A. Dunn, Moriah L. Szpara, Andrew F. Read, 2019, Virus Evolution

Why the evolution of vaccine resistance is less of a concern than the evolution of drug resistance

David A. Kennedy, Andrew F. Read, 2018, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 12878-12886

Modeling Marek's disease virus transmission: A framework for evaluating the impact of farming practices and evolution

David A. Kennedy, Patricia A. Dunn, Andrew F. Read, 2018, Epidemics on p. 85-95

Effects of multiple sources of genetic drift on pathogen variation within hosts

David A. Kennedy, Greg Dwyer, 2018, PLoS Biology

Industry-wide surveillance of Marek’s disease virus on commercial poultry farms.

David A. Kennedy, Christopher Cairns, Matthew J. Jones, Andrew S. Bell, Rahel M. Salathé, Susan J. Baigent, Venugopal K. Nair, Patricia A. Dunn, Andrew F. Read, 2017, Avian Diseases on p. 153-164

Most-Cited Papers

Imperfect vaccination can enhance the transmission of highly virulent pathogens

Andrew F. Read, Susan J. Baigent, Claire Powers, Lydia B. Kgosana, Luke Blackwell, Lorraine P. Smith, David A. Kennedy, Stephen W. Walkden-Brown, Venugopal K. Nair, 2015, PLoS Biology on p. e1002198

Why does drug resistance readily evolve but vaccine resistance does not?

David A. Kennedy, Andrew F. Read, 2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Potential drivers of virulence evolution in aquaculture

David A. Kennedy, Gael Kurath, Ilana L. Brito, Maureen K. Purcell, Andrew F. Read, James R. Winton, Andrew R. Wargo, 2016, Evolutionary Applications on p. 344-354

Why the evolution of vaccine resistance is less of a concern than the evolution of drug resistance

David A. Kennedy, Andrew F. Read, 2018, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on p. 12878-12886

Epidural Steroid Injections are Safe and Effective: Multisociety Letter in Support of the Safety and Effectiveness of Epidural Steroid Injections

David J. Kennedy, Joshua Levin, Richard Rosenquist, Virtaj Singh, Clark Smith, Milan P. Stojanovic, Yakov Vorobeychik, 2015, Pain Medicine on p. 833-838

Using quantitative disease dynamics as a tool for guiding response to avian influenza in poultry in the United States of America

K. M. Pepin, E. Spackman, J. D. Brown, K. L. Pabilonia, L. P. Garber, J. T. Weaver, D. A. Kennedy, K. A. Patyk, K. P. Huyvaert, R. S. Miller, A. B. Franklin, K. Pedersen, T. L. Bogich, P. Rohani, S. A. Shriner, C. T. Webb, S. Riley, 2014, Preventive Veterinary Medicine on p. 376-397

Industry-wide surveillance of Marek’s disease virus on commercial poultry farms.

David A. Kennedy, Christopher Cairns, Matthew J. Jones, Andrew S. Bell, Rahel M. Salathé, Susan J. Baigent, Venugopal K. Nair, Patricia A. Dunn, Andrew F. Read, 2017, Avian Diseases on p. 153-164

Pathogen growth in insect hosts

David A. Kennedy, Vanja Dukic, Greg Dwyer, 2014, American Naturalist on p. 407-423

DNA from dust: Comparative genomics of large DNA viruses in field surveillance samples

Utsav Pandey, Andrew S. Bell, Daniel W. Renner, David A. Kennedy, Jacob T. Shreve, Chris L. Cairns, Matthew J. Jones, Patricia A. Dunn, Andrew F. Read, Moriah L. Szpara, 2016, mSphere on p. e00132--16

Combining principal component analysis with parameter line-searches to improve the efficacy of Metropolis–Hastings MCMC

David A. Kennedy, Vanja Dukic, Greg Dwyer, 2015, Environmental and Ecological Statistics on p. 247-274

News Articles Featuring David Kennedy

Apr 28, 2021

Are the vaccines effective against mutant Covid variants?

India is undergoing a massive vaccination effort in the midst of a devastating rise in reported daily cases and deaths. While the main cause of the rise in cases is yet to be determined, epidemiological and virological data point to the rise of new variants of concern being a major contributing factor.

Full Article

Mar 17, 2021

How Much Should We Really Worry About the Coronavirus Variants?

Even as things look promising for summer, the coronavirus is still finding new ways to threaten our creep back to normal and our general sense of health and safety.

Full Article

Jan 15, 2021

How devastating could Brazil's 'super-covid' be? Study finds coronavirus overwhelmed the country, killing nearly 40% of hospitalized patients as fears grow its variant could ALREADY be in America

Nearly 40 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Brazil died of the virus as the nation's health care system was inundated with coronavirus cases last year, a new study estimates.

Full Article

Dec 22, 2020

Why it matters that the coronavirus is changing — and what this means for vaccine effectiveness (Philadelphia Inquirer)

If this new version of the virus is here to stay, as it appears to be, what does that mean? Will this new version of the virus replace the old one? Will it be easier to catch? And, most important, will the current vaccines still be effective?

Full Article

Dec 22, 2020

Why it matters that the coronavirus is changing — and what this means for vaccine effectiveness (The Conversation)

A new variant of SARS-CoV-2 is spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom, with over 1,400 cases since September. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, generally accumulates mutations slowly over time, but this new variant had accumulated many mutations quickly.

Full Article

Dec 14, 2020

What happens if you skip the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine?

As Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine begins circulating, there is another big logistical challenge ahead: reminding people to get the second dose.

Full Article

Nov 17, 2020

Virus evolution could undermine a COVID-19 vaccine – but this can be stopped

The first drug against HIV brought dying patients back from the brink. But as excited doctors raced to get the miracle drug to new patients, the miracle melted away. In each and every patient, the drug only worked only for a while.

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Nov 11, 2020

Mutant coronaviruses found in mink spark massive culls and doom a Danish group’s research

Jens Malmkvist’s life’s work came to a dramatic end this week. An ethologist at Aarhus University, Malmkvist studies the behavior and welfare of farmed mink, with the aim of giving them a better life as they are raised for fur. But on Monday and Tuesday, all 6350 minks at the Aarhus facility were gassed as part of a nationwide cull ordered on 4 November by the Danish government.

Full Article

Nov 09, 2020

Vaccines will not be a 'silver bullet' to end Covid-19 immediately

A coronavirus vaccine won't immediately bring the pandemic to an end and scientists and officials must be honest about how long it will take to roll one out and get life back to normal, experts say.

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Nov 09, 2020

Could SARS-CoV-2 evolve resistance to COVID-19 vaccines?

Similar to bacteria evolving resistance to antibiotics, viruses can evolve resistance to vaccines, and the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 could undermine the effectiveness of vaccines that are currently under development, according to a paper published Nov. 9 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by David Kennedy and Andrew Read from Penn State.

Full Article