Our People
Trainees
Deesha Bhaumik, MS (PhD, Doctoral Program in Epidemiologic Science)
Foxman Lab
I am interested in using the microbiome as a tool for studying the progression of health outcomes in the context of behavioral characteristics and environmental exposures.
Morgan Byrd, MPH (PhD 2025, Doctoral Program in Epidemiologic Science)
Foxman Lab
I am interested in infectious disease epidemiology and the role the microbiome plays in transmission and susceptibility; current work with Dr. Foxman is on the TARI project exploring the short-term dynamics of the nose/throat microbiome and the role it plays in respiratory pathogen risk among short-term nursing facility residents.
Zhonghe Chen (MPH 2024, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Foxman Lab
The research is about identifying pathogens present in wastewater from both Ann Arbor and Jackson, my particular interest is to learn more about disease management; knowledge I had learnt during graduate study helps describe who I am and what I am doing with MAC-EPID.
Danielle DeCesaris (MPH 2024, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Rickard Lab
My current research focus is on dental biofilms. I am interested in infectious disease, HAIs, molecular epidemiology, and microbial ecology.
Zachary Farrell (MPH 2024, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Gordon Lab
Viral epidemiology interests, specifically with COVID-19 and factors related to the transmission of COVID-19.
Jillian Fuss (MPH 2025, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Rickard Lab
My research goals are to understand the development and interactions of biofilms, specifically biofilms relevant to the medical field and public health. I am especially interested in the applications of microbiology within health-related fields such as infection prevention.
Gregory Hoy (MD, PhD 2027, Doctoral Program in Epidemiologic Science, Medical Scientist Training Program)
Gordon Lab
I am broadly interested in global health and the epidemiology of infectious diseases, especially their characteristics and presentation in low-resource settings.
Elizabeth Kim (MPH 2022, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Rickard Lab
Mara Metler (BS 2023, Neuroscience, Epidemiology)
Foxman Lab
In this position, I will be processing dental samples from families in the Appalachian region in the United States to help determine what impacts people's health. I hope to continue on throughout the summer to even more projects relating to Epidemiology and how people's health is changed based on familial roots, the environment, and more.
Aneesa Redissi (BS 2026, Undergraduate Molecular, Cellular, & Developmental Biology)
Rickard Lab
I'm an undergraduate LSA student interested in biological and pharmaceutical sciences with specific interests in women's health and medicine.
Mukai Wang (PhD 2025, Biostatistics Doctoral Program)
Foxman Lab
I am interested in longitudinal data analysis of microbiome metagenomics data.
Duane White (Biology, Pre-Medical)
Rickard lab
I am an LSA student studying biology who plans on attending medical school post-graduation. I will be working with Dr. Rickard in his research of co-aggregation of bacteria.
Jason Wing (BS, 2023 Undergraduate Biochemistry)
Rickard Lab
A student with a large interest in biological and biochemical research, who hopes to contribute something to the quickly growing field of epidemiology and microbiology
Postdocs & Visiting Scholars
Peter DeJonge, MPH, PhD (Epidemiologic Science)
Martin Lab
Ting Luo, PhD (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Epidemiology)
Rickard Lab
Sophia Ng, PhD, MPH (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Epidemiology)
Gordon Lab
Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Rebecca Tutino, PhD (Postdoctoral Research Fellow)
Gordon Lab
I will be examining the influence of social factors on the incidence of influenza in a cohort of families in Nicaragua.
Jae Min Shin
Rickard Lab
Graduates & other past affiliates
Freida Blostein, MPH (PhD 2022, Doctoral Program in Epidemiologic Science)
Foxman Lab
I'm interested in using epidemiological methods and computation biology to examine how microbes, hosts and environments interact in the context of disease states. I'm especially interested in applying concepts from evolutionary theory to human disease.
Richard J. Bauer Ph.D. (2003)
Current position: Associate, Delaware firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnel
Natalia Blanco Herrera, Ph.D. (2016)
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Maryland
MAC-EPID Info
Focus/Dissertation Title: In vivo pathogenicity and sporulation patterns of Clostridium difficile
Hailey Blinkiewicz (MPH 2023, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Rickard Lab
Stephanie Borchardt, Ph.D. (2004)
Current position (Jan. 2017): Wisconsin Department of Health Services
Khalil Chedid (Postdoc)
Martin Lab
Antibiotic resistance gene transfer from VRE to MRSA.
Landria Christman
Martin Lab
Aslynn Cummings
Martin Lab
Brian Davis, Ph.D. (2015)
Current position (Apr. 2017): Senior Research Analyst at Truven Health Analytics
MAC-EPID Info
Focus/Dissertation Title: Implications of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for Mitigating Influenza in Schools and the Role of Co-Infection in the University Setting
Gregg Davis, M.P.H. (2012)
Current position (Jan. 2017): Postdoctoral Scientist, Environmental and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University
Constanza Fernandez Gonzalez
Rickard Lab
Noelle Fleury (BS 2022, Epidemiology, LSA)
Martin Lab
In this lab we explore the risk factors and outcomes of the co-infection of two antibiotic resistant bacteria while also trying to find alternative methods for VRE colonization screening.
Sarah Gardner (MPH 2023, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Foxman Lab
I will be working with the Foxman lab on surveillance of antibiotic resistant bacteria and Candida auris in waste water.
Annemarie France, Ph.D. (2008)
Current position: Epidemiologist, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Rachel Gicquelais, PhD (2018)
Current position (2020): Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison
Christine Greene, Ph.D. (2015)
Focus/Dissertation Title: Characterization of A. baumannii Environmental Survival and Biofilm Formation and its Impact on Environmental Transmission
Current position: Principal Investigator, Infection Control and Sanitation at NSF International (2016)
Savannah Hatt, MPH (2017)
Foxman Lab
Emily Hawker (MPH 2023, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Foxman Lab
I am a second year MPH student with an interest in infectious disease epidemiology and infection prevention. In the future I hope to work as an infection preventionist in a hospital or government setting.
Mary-Ashley Hazel, M.Sc. (2012)
Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University (2015).
MAC-EPID Info
Foxman Lab
Testimonial: “IPID shaped me into a truly interdisciplinary infectious disease researcher. Thanks to my IPID training, I have enhanced the breadth and impact of my work as an anthropologist with the analytic skills and public-health perspective of an epidemiologist.”
Hsin Hua (MPH 2023, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Foxman Lab
My research interest is the tracking and control of infectious disease.
DeeDee Ishmail, MPH (2018)
Foxman Lab
Current Position (2020): completing PhD at _
Wenwen Jiang, MPH (2017)
Foxman Lab
Current Position (2020): Research Assistant at Global Center for Integrated Health of Women, Adolescents, and Children (Global WACh)
Patricia Julio, Ph.D. (2006)
Current position: GlaxoSmithKline. Panama.
Kyu Han Lee, PhD (2018)
Foxman Lab
Current position: John's Hopkins
Elizabeth Levin-Sparenberg, Ph.D. (2016)
Foxman Lab
Focus/Dissertation Title: Molecular Epidemiology of Bordetella pertussis
Current position (2020): Epidemiologist at Livingston County Health Department
Jiean Li, M.P.H. (2012)
Foxman Lab
Current position: D.M.D. Candidate (2017) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
Testimonial: “The breadth of the epidemiologic training at UM instilled an appreciation to see diseases as the sum of many different parts. The expectation to communicate our work to a diverse group of people, whose work may be completely unrelated (as the case is with MAC-EPID), gave me excellent training simplifying complex ideas into consumable units. Now, when I sit with patients, I feel very comfortable explaining that their conditions are the result of a number of factors, distill the literature available, and provide evidence based recommendations."
Johnnie Lin (BS 2023, Epidemiology)
Martin Lab
Ting Luo. PhD (2018)
Rickard Lab
Post doctoral researcher with Alex Rickard at the University of Michigan.
Hannah Maier, PhD (2019)
Gordon Lab
Postdoctoral researcher with Aubree Gordon at the University of Michigan.
Jennifer McLenon (MPH)
Foxman Lab
Courtney Murdock, Ph.D. (2009)
Current position: Associate Professor, Ecology, University of Georgia
Kushbu Narender Singh (MPH 2022, General Epidemiology (Epidemiology Methods and Applications))
Rickard Lab
Madison Nightingale (MPH 2022, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Rickard Lab
Sarah Olechowski, BS (MPH 2022, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Rickard Lab
I'm interested in infectious disease and immunology. My goals consist of using my knowledge of lab and epidemiology methods to help solve public health problems.
Kirtana Ramadugu, MPH
Foxman Lab
Michael Reiskind, Ph.D. (2005)
Current position (Jan. 2017): Assistant Professor, Entomology, North Carolina State University
Ethan Romero-Severson, Ph.D. (2011)
Current position (Jan. 2017): Los Alamos National Laboratory
Erisa Rosen (BS 2025, Undergraduate Public Health)
Foxman Lab
Mariana Rosenthal, M.P.H. (2013)
Foxman Lab
Focus/Dissertation Title: The Healthcare Workers' Hand Microbiome: Community Structure and Dynamics
Current position
Chelsie Rowland (MPH 2023, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Foxman Lab
I will be working in the Foxman lab on the analysis of antimicrobial resistance in waste water samples, I am concurrently working on the analysis of Genomic Epidemiological studies with the SAPPHIRE project.
Mark Schmidt, Ph.D., M.P.H. (2009)
Current position (Jan. 2017): Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research
Donald Schoolmaster, Ph.D. (2004)
Current position (Jan. 2017): Adjunct Research Associate, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University; Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey, National Wetlands Research Center
Tamara Snelson, BS (MPH 2022, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Rickard Lab
I am broadly interested in infectious disease on a global scale particularly in developing countries
Carla Talarico, Ph.D. (2009)
Current position: GlaxoSmithKline
Kierstin Trocha (MPH 2022, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Foxman Lab
I am very excited for this opportunity to join Dr. Foxman's Lab and for the mentorship that accompanies it. My goals are to continue to gain epidemiological experience, and to be able to apply the tools and knowledge learned in the classroom to real-world, practical research.
Mia Wang (BS 2025, Undergraduate LSA)
Foxman Lab
I am currently a second year student majoring in Biology, Health, and Society hoping to gain experience in the field of molecular epidemiology.
Baylor Wiggins (BS 2023, Undergraduate Kinesiology)
Rickard Lab
I am investigating the bacterial behavior and biofilm architecture of a tobacco and vape saturated environment.
Qiuyang Zhang (MPH 2023, Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology)
Foxman Lab
My research interest is the surveillance of pathogens within wastewater samples and some application of infection prevention and control in it.
Faculty
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
bakulski@umich.edu
Associate Professor, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies
Research interests include: the dynamic process that allows bacteria to integrate and adapt to their environment.
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases
Research interests include: The study of bacterial factors that promote colonization and disease with respiratory pathogens.
Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Research interests include: Microbial community genomics, geomicrobiology, and marine microbiology.
Chair, Epidemiology
Research interests include: Infectious disease, transmission modeling, risk assessment, waterborne pathogens, vectorborne disease.
EcoDess: Environmental Change and Diarrheal Disease in Ecuador
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Associate Professor, Complex Systems
Associate Professor, Mathematics
Eisenberg Research Group - Epimath Lab
Michigan HPV and Oropharyngeal Cancer (M-HOC) Study
Director of MAC-EPID
Hunein F. and Hilda Maassab Endowed Professor of Epidemiology
Research interests include: Molecular epidemiology of acute, chronic recurring infections of multiple etiology affecting primarily women and children; urinary tract infections; candida vaginitis; lactation mastitis, and otitis media.
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
Research interests include: the areas of infectious disease epidemiology and global health. Her current research focuses on the epidemiologic features and transmission of influenza in Nicaragua.
Professor, Internal Medicine
Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
Associate Director, T32 Multidisciplinary Training in Pulmonary Diseases
Research interests include: Mechanisms of pulmonary immunity to infectious diseases (C. neoformans). Interaction between cryptococcal virulence factors and host defenses in the lungs. Role of TNF and chemokines in pulmonary cell-mediated immunity.
Associate Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics
Research interests include: Modeling particular systems, in analyzing particular models, and in developing general methods for modeling and analysis.
Co-director, Center for Systems Biology
Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Research interests include: Host pathogen interactions during persistent infections.
Robert G. Wetzel Collegiate Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research interests include: How elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur move through the environment. This research requires study at the scale of the ecosystem, and encompasses physical transport phenomena, geochemical reactions, and the role of organisms in element storate and transformation.
Professor, Pediatrics Infectious Diseases
Professor, Epidemiology
Research interests include: The molecular epidemiology and taxonomy of Burkholderia cepacia, a significant pathogen among persons with cystic fibrosis. Dr. LiPuma maintains a bacterial repository of B. cepacia complex and other non-fermenting bacterial isolates for the CF clinical research community.
Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering
Research interests include: Biological switching, microbial symbiosis, metabolic modeling and engineering, bioenergy, systems biology, synthetic biology
The Lin Group: Systems Biotechnology Research
Professor and Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research interests include: general area of environmental biotechnology
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
Research interests include: Infectious disease epidemiology, specifically focusing on infections with multiple pathogens and in chronic carriage of bacteria or viruses in people without symptoms. Molecular and clinical epidemiology of patients who have dual bacterial infections with MRSA and VRE.
Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Research interests include: Bacterial pathogenesis; virulence of uropathogens and Helicobacter pylori
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
amondul@umich.edu
Research Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
jpetrie@umich.edu
Altarum/ERIM Russell O'Neal Professor, Environmental Engineering
Research interests include: Biological processes in engineered systems.
Environmental Biotechnology Group
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Research interests include: biofilm communities and the role of coaggregation and cell-cell signaling in promoting health or disease.
Biofilms in Health, Disease, and the Environment
Associate Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
Research interests include: Interplay between humans and the microbes that reside on and within us - the human microbiome.
Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Internal Medicine
Research interests include: the physiology and ecology of microbes. His research is currently focused on two microbial communities: those found in terrestrial environments and are involved in the flux of greenhouse gases, and microbes that constitute mammalian microbiome. A current point of interest is testing the hypotheses that there is a trade-off between growth rate and resource use efficiency.
Professor Emeritus, Economics, Mathematics and Public Policy
Director, Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program
Research interests include: Mathematical models of the spread of infection, both at the population and at the cellular level, with special interests in HIV and influenza, in vaccination strategies, and in the effects of contact patterns on transmission.
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Research Associate Professor, Survey Research
Research Interests: Genetic Epidemiology, Epigenomics, Aging, Cardiovascular Disease, Cognition, Dementia, Social Determinants of Health
Internal Medicine
Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: the application of innovative computational and experimental approaches to study the epidemiology, evolution and biology of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria that cause healthcare-associated infections (HAI).
Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Research interests include: advanced imaging of biofilm structure and function, and the role of biofilm in infectious diseases and antibiotics resistance
Associate Professor, Epidemiology
Research interests include: The molecular epidemiology and pathogenesis of tuberculosis (TB).
Associate Professor Department of Internal Medicine
Research interests include: Role of bacteria in acute and chronic gastrointestinal (GI) illness. Click here for more information.
AssociateProfessor, Biostatistics
Associate Professor, Psychiatry
Research interests include: using genetic data to identify variants that contribute to the risk of common diseases in humans. Understanding the patterns in population genetics data and make inferences about histories of populations.
Staff
Lab Manager for Foxman Lab, Rickard Lab, Martin Lab, and Gordon Lab
Assistant to Betsy Foxman
Research Coordinator
Research Staff for Foxman Lab
Research Staff for Gordon Lab
Amy Callear
Martin Lab
Nivea Vydiswaran
Gordon Lab
Mahboob Chowdhury
Gordon Lab
chowdhma@umich.edu
Emeritus Professors
Associate Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology
Research interests include: Molecular epidemiology of Group B Streptococcus and Escherichia coli; Virulence related genetic variation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains; Haemophilus influenzae genes associated with acute otitis media and COPD; Transmission dynamics and antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli; Antibiotic resistance gene resistance transfer in biofilms; Public health genetics; Molecular epidemiology of oral and vaginal bacteria
Associate Director of MAC-EPID
Professor Emeritus, Pediatrics Infectious Diseases
Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology
Research interests include: Haemophilis influenzae pathogenesis, epidmiology of respiratory pathogens in day care, and antigenic diversity of H. influenzae.
Professor Emeritus, Epidemiology
Research interests include: Transmission system analysis in geographically and socially structured populations for: vaccine trial design, microbial risk assessment for EPA, and design of surveillance systems for CDC.
Hunein F. "John" Maassab
Since 1952, when he came to the University of Michigan as a graduate student, Hunein F. "John" Maassab was an active member and leader of the Epidemiology Department. He is best known for developing the flu vaccine we know as FluMist, which has been given to millions of people to prevent the spread of influenza.
"Vaccines past, present, and future", the MAC-EPID symposium held on November 7, 2014, honored his life and his work. Click the link to watch presentations from this event.
Historical contributions by the School of Public Health including Maassab's vaccine.