Leslie Wolf Parrish, PhD HCLD (ABB)

Assistant Clinical Professor
Director, Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory

Division of Infectious Diseases


Delia B. Baxter Biomedical Research Building (II) 502-852-1152

About

Dr. Wolf earned a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology with High Distinction from the University of Kentucky, and a PhD in Immunology/Microbiology from the University of Colorado. In 1997 she began her career in public health as a CDC/APHL Emerging Infectious Disease Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health. While serving as lab director at NCSLPH from 2006 to 2012, she earned the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Emerging Leader Award. This award honors an individual whose leadership has been instrumental in one or more advances in laboratory science, practice, management, policy, or education within his/her first 5-10 years in the profession.

Dr. Wolf began serving as Laboratory Director at Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness (LMPHW) in July of 2013. In January of 2017, Dr. Wolf was also appointed as a Clinical Assistant Professor to direct the University of Louisville Infectious Diseases Laboratory. Dr. Wolf is one of several leaders at UofL with a shared appointment at LMPHW, contributing to the success of LMPHW as an Academic Health Department. To further strengthen the relationship between LMPHW and UofL, Dr. Wolf was appointed as an Adjunct Faculty in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences. She teaches an undergraduate course required for Public Health majors to graduate.

As Director the of UofL Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Dr. Wolf has focused on quality improvement, customer service, collaborations, and applied research. The Infectious Diseases Laboratory offers a variety of molecular and serologic methods to aid health care providers in diagnosis of atypical pneumonia and tick-borne diseases of concern to the region. New diagnostic tests are added based on feedback from the community of health care providers so that timely and accurate results can be used to improve patient health outcomes.

Education

PhD Immunology/Microbiology, University of Colorado

BS in Microbiology, University of Kentucky

Recent Publications