Biography

Dr. Cindy Prins joined UCF in 2023 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences, College of Medicine, and is part of the UCF Infectious Disease and Travel Health Initiative. She is an infectious disease epidemiologist whose research focuses on infection prevention and control in both healthcare and non-healthcare settings, and on compliance with vaccine recommendations. 

Dr. Prins received her PhD in Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology from Penn State University in 2000, where she studied replication of JC virus. She completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Florida, focusing on regulation of vaccinia virus transcription elongation. Concurrently, she earned her MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Florida in the fall of 2006. After this she worked in Infection Prevention and Control at UF Health Shands Hospital from 2006 to 2010 before joining the University of Florida department of Epidemiology as a faculty member in 2010. There she served as a Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Associate Professor, PhD in Epidemiology Program Director, MPH Program Director, and Assistant Dean for Educational Affairs. She also served as the University of Florida Campus Infection Preventionist during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Prins is Board Certified in Infection Control (CIC) and Public Health (CPH) and is a Fellow of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (FSHEA).

Dr. Prins’ current work is focused on infection prevention training in long-term care facilities (LTCF) in Florida and on the testing of technology to assist in contact tracing in LTCF patients with dementia.