Meet The Team

Principal Investigators

Aubree Gordon, PhD, MPH

Aubree Gordon is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology who specializes in large studies to examine susceptibility to and transmission of respiratory viruses.

Virginia M. Pierce, MD

Virginia Pierce is an Associate Professor of Microbiology who specializes in improving the accuracy and speed with which clinical microbiology laboratories can characterize the susceptibility profile of pathogens and use this information to advise clinicians about the selection of effective, targeted antimicrobial therapy.

Co-Investigators

Carmen Gherasim, PhD

Carmen Gherasim is an Assistant Professor of Pathology in the Department of Pathology at Michigan Medicine.

David Manthei, MD, PhD

David Manthei is an Assistant Professor of Pathology and serves as Associate Director of the Immunology and Special Chemistry laboratories.

Emily Stoneman, MD

Emily Stoneman is an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine and serves as the Medical Director of Occupational Health Services.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka, PhD

Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka established the technique of reverse genetics, which allows the generation of ‘designer’ influenza viruses. This technology was used to develop the flu vaccine FluMist® and candidate bird flu vaccines. Dr. Kawaoka also studies Ebola virus pathogenesis and is currently developing an Ebola vaccine, which entered clinical trials in 2019. In February 2020, he began a SARS-CoV-2 research program that includes establishing animal models of infection and developing safe and effective vaccines.

Study Coordinators

Theresa Kowalski-Dobson, MPH

Theresa is the program manager for the IASO study. She earned her MPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 2015. Prior to joining the Gordon Lab Group, she managed a variety of behavioral health studies at the School of Public Health and Michigan Medicine.

Noah Paalanen

Noah is a study coordinator and data manager for the VIVA and FluGuardians studies. He earned his BS in Psychology from Wayne State University in 2020, and has previously worked on PET Imaging studies of Parkinson's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia at the University of Michigan. His current research interests are in infectious disease control and prevention, and healthcare disparities amongst the LGBTQIA+ community.

Anna Buswinka, MPH

Anna earned her MPH from Michigan State University in 2022. She has worked on several other studies varying from multiple sclerosis research to early childhood development, but her current research interests are in infectious disease epidemiology and neuroepidemiology.

Data Managers

Ashley Eckard, MS

Ashley earned her MS in Biostatistics from Grand Valley State University. She joined the Gordon Research Group in November 2021 and primarily works on the IASO study as a data manager. She is also a senior analyst at the University of Michigan Kidney Epidemiology and Cost Center.

Katie Lindsey, MPH

Katie's background is in global public health and teaching primary intervention workshops in Sierra Leone. Her current research interests are in infectious disease epidemiology, vaccine-preventable diseases, and immunology.

Research Assistant

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