Kirk Deitsch is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. His work is focused on the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and involves several projects directed toward understanding various aspects of gene regulation and how parasites avoid the immune system of their host through antigenic variation. In addition to his work on transcription, his is also interested in genome plasticity, particularly in how parasites generate diversity within the multi-copy gene families utilized for antigenic variation.