Michael Worobey

Department Head
Professor
Worobey

Office Location: BSW 334
Lab Location: BSW 401

Office Phone: (520) 626-3456
Lab Phone: (520) 621-4881
worobey@email.arizona.edu

Positions and Education: 

  • Department Head, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 2015-present
  • Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 2011-present
  • Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 2009-2011
  • Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 2003-2009
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Zoology, St. John’s College, University of Oxford. 2001-2003
  • D.Phil., Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. 2001
  • B.Sc. (Hons), Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University. 1997

Honors and Awards: 

  • 2025: STATUS List Honoree
  • 2016-2021: Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professorship
  • 2018: Virus Genomics and Evolution conference, Cambridge, UK, Keynote Speaker
  • 2018: Lansdowne Lecturer, University of Victoria
  • 2017: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Center for Immunity and Infection, Distinguished Guest Lecturer
  • 2010: 19th Canadian Association of HIV Researchers Conference, Distinguished Speaker
  • 2009: Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy
  • 2009: Distinguished Alumnus, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University
  • 2009: 16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Distinguished Speaker
  • 2008: National Academy of Science, US Frontiers of Science Kavli Fellow
  • 2006-2011: David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Packard Fellowship
  • 2001: Junior Research Fellowship, St. John’s College, University of Oxford
  • 1997: Rhodes Scholarship

Research Interests: 

Dr. Worobey taps into the genomes of viruses, using molecular and computational biology, to understand the origins, emergence and control of pandemics.  He has made discoveries pinpointing, for example, where, when and how HIV originated and spread worldwide and how influenza pandemics, including the intense 1918 pandemic, emerge and kill large numbers of people.  Recently, his interdisciplinary work on SARS-CoV-2 has shed light on how and when the virus originated and ignited the COVID-19 pandemic in China and how SARS-CoV-2 emerged and took hold in North America and Europe.

Current research includes (1) SARS-CoV-2 genomic epidemiology and evolution from local to global scales, (2) work at the intersection of viral evolution and immunology with both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses, (3) influenza vaccines, and (4) pandemic preparedness and prevention.


Selected Publications: 

  1. Peacock, T.P., Moncla, L., Dudas, G. et al. The global H5N1 influenza panzootic in mammals. Nature 637, 304-313 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08054-z
  2. Crits-Christoph, Alexander et al. Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cell 187, 5468-5482 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.010
  3. Moratorio, Gonazalo et al. H5N1 influenza: urgent questions and directions. Cell 187, 4546-4548 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.07.024
  4. Matteson, Nathaniel L. et al. Genomic surveillance reveals dynamic shifts in the connectivity of COVID-19 epidemics. Cell 186, 5690-5704 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.11.024
  5. Áine O’Toole et al. APOBEC3 deaminase editing in mpox virus as evidence for sustained human transmission since at least 2016. Science 382, 595-600 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg8116 
  6. Michael Worobey et al. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Science 377, 951-959 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abp8715
  7. Jonathan E. Pekar et al. The molecular epidemiology of multiple zoonotic origins of SARS-CoV-2. Science 377, 960-966 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abp8337   
  8. Michael Worobey. Dissecting the early COVID-19 cases in Wuhan. Science 374, 1202-1204 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm4454   
  9. Holmes, Edward C. et al. The origins of SARS-CoV-2: A critical review. Cell 184, 4848-4856 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.08.017
  10. Jesse D. Bloom et al. Investigate the origins of COVID-19. Science 372, 694 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj0016
  11. Washington NL, et al. Emergence and rapid transmission of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 in the United States. Cell 184, 2587-2594 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.052
  12. Jonathan Pekar et al. Timing the SARS-CoV-2 index case in Hubei province. Science 372, 412-417 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf8003
  13. Michael Worobey et al. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in Europe and North America. Science 370, 564-570 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc8169
  14. Worobey M, Plotkin S, Hensley SE. Influenza vaccines delivered in early childhood could turn antigenic sin into antigenic blessings. Cold Spring Harbor Perspect Med 10, a038471 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a038471
  15. Gryseels S, Watts TD, Mpolesha JK, Larsen BB, Lemey P, Muyembe-Tamfum J, Teuwen DE, Worobey M. A near full-length HIV-1 genome from 1966 recovered from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue. PNAS 117, 12222-12229 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913682117
  16. Worobey, M. Molecular mapping of Zika spread. Nature 546, 355–356 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22495
  17. Katelyn M. Gostic et al. Maternal antibodies' role in immunity—Response. Science 355, 705 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam7389
  18. Katelyn M. Gostic et al. Potent protection against H5N1 and H7N9 influenza via childhood hemagglutinin imprinting. Science 354, 722-726 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aag1322
  19. Worobey, M., Watts, T., McKay, R. et al. 1970s and ‘Patient 0’ HIV-1 genomes illuminate early HIV/AIDS history in North America. Nature 539, 98–101 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19827
  20. Worobey, M., Han, GZ. & Rambaut, A. A synchronized global sweep of the internal genes of modern avian influenza virus. Nature 508, 254–257 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13016
  21. Worobey M, Han GZ, Rambaut A. The genesis and pathogenesis of the 1918 influenza pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus. PNAS 111, 8107-8112 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1324197111
  22. Michael Worobey et al. Island Biogeography Reveals the Deep History of SIV. Science 329, 1487 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1193550
  23. Smith, G., Vijaykrishna, D., Bahl, J. et al. Origins and evolutionary genomics of the 2009 swine-origin H1N1 influenza A epidemic. Nature 459, 1122–1125 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08182 
  24. Worobey, M., Gemmel, M., Teuwen, D. et al. Direct evidence of extensive diversity of HIV-1 in Kinshasa by 1960. Nature 455, 661–664 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07390
  25. Worobey, M., Santiago, M., Keele, B. et al. Contaminated polio vaccine theory refuted. Nature 428, 820 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/428820a