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.

Riccardo Valdez, MD

Dr. Riccardo Valdez is the Director for the Division of Clinical Pathology at Michigan Medicine, where he is also an Associate Professor of Pathology. 

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. 

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 my current research interests are in infectious disease epidemiology and neuroepidemiology. 

Matthew Arnold, MPH

Matthew is a research study coordinator for the IASO Study.  He earned his MPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 2021. Before joining the Gordon Lab Group, Matthew worked on improving healthcare access and quality of care across underserved communities.

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.

Lonnie Barnes, MS

Lonnie earned his MS in Geography from Michigan State University in 2018. He joined the Gordon Group in May 2022 as a data manager. He is also an analyst at the University of Michigan Kidney Epidemiology and Cost Center since 2018.

Zijin Chu, MPH

Zijin earned her MPH in General Epidemiology at the University of Michigan with a graduate certificate in Data Science. She joined the Gordon Research Group in summer 2021.

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 Assistants

 Erik Rausch 

Second-year MPH, Epidemiology

Erik is an MPH student in General Epidemiology, and is passionate about infectious diseases and disease surveillance. He also enjoys the challenge of learning new skills in data management and analysis. 

Amber Brewer 

First year MPH, Epidemiology

Amber is an MPH student in General Epidemiology with research interests in infectious disease and social epidemiology. Her primary interests are coronaviruses, HIV and STIs, and pregnancy and birth.