Epidemiology - PhD

The mission of the GW Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Epidemiology program is to educate individuals who are committed to making a difference by solving public health problems. Graduates from this program learn to apply critical and analytical skills to better understand disease and human health. Our graduates bring these skills into the world in order to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative health practices and policies.

In addition, the PhD in Epidemiology degree coursework helps enhance students' focus on theoretical and applied epidemiological and statistical methods. At the George Washington University, we are proud to educate students who are committed to improving public health and engaging in and promoting public service. We emphasize these qualities in the PhD Epidemiology program because they are essential for future health professionals and public health practitioners. The program ensures that graduates:

• Gain knowledge across a wide range of epidemiologic and biostatistical theories and methods.
• Gain specific knowledge of epidemiology in one or more of the following areas: infectious disease, chronic disease, environmental and occupational health, or physical activity
• Understand general and specialized advanced epidemiologic concepts.
• Understand how to apply statistical methods to biological/biomedical sciences and health services
• Understand and abide by guidelines for ethical treatment of research participants.
• Conduct and analyze data from a research study.
• Disseminate research findings to scientific and lay audiences.

Applicants to the program must hold an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution. Although not required, most admitted students have completed a master’s degree prior to admission.

GWSPH Doctoral programs admit students for the Fall term each academic year. Applications will be accepted beginning in August and are due no later than December 1st for the next matriculating cohort beginning in the following Fall term.  Find GWSPH graduate admissions information here.

Applicants who have completed an MPH degree from a Council of Education for Public Health (CEPH) accredited Program, or who hold a graduate degree in a related field will be considered for admission to the PhD Program. Applicants may indicate their relevant training, work and/or research experience, or educational background that may have prepared them for doctoral level training in Public Health.

In general, a minimum of a B average (or equivalent) in undergraduate and/or graduate coursework from an accredited college is required. With evidence of special promises, such as high Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores, an applicant whose academic record falls short of a B average may be accepted on a conditional basis. All students are required to submit current GRE scores (within 5 years of matriculation date).  

Meeting the minimum requirements does not assure acceptance. Admittance to the PhD Epidemiology is highly competitive and there are a limited number of spaces available each Fall for new students. Applicants must provide evidence of the completion of their undergraduate and/or graduate work before registration in Milken Institute SPH is permitted.

Academic Prerequisites

Required Prerequisites* for applicants to the PhD Epidemiology are:

• Calculus I and II - 6 credits
• Human Biology - 8 credits (6 credits lecture, 2 credits lab)
• Principles and Practice of Epidemiology - 3 credits

 Transcripts are required for verification. Transcripts provided must reflect these courses (undergraduate or graduate level), without exception, to be considered for admission.

 

And, these courses are Highly Recommended Admissions Prerequisites^:

• Linear Algebra - 3 credits
• SAS - 3 credits

^ Applicants may still be admitted if these courses have not yet been completed, however, these credits must be earned no later than the end of the first semester after matriculation. Credits for these courses do not count toward the 72-credit graduation requirement, nor are grades earned in these additional courses reflected in the overall grade-point average.

Applicants should be aware that graduate courses taken prior to admission while in non-degree status will be considered, but may not be transferable into this program.  With approval of the program director, up to 12 graduate credits that have not been applied to any previous graduate degree may be transferred to the PhD program. External credits must have been earned from an accredited institution in the last 6 years with a minimum grade of 3.0 (B) in each course.

There are two parts to the examination requirements for the PhD Epidemiology.

Part I of the general comprehensive examination includes one exam in biostatistics and three in epidemiology.

• Students are expected to take the comprehensive examination within 24 months from the date of enrollment in the program. In addition, students are required to make up any deficiencies prior to taking the examination, by enrolling in appropriate masters-level courses as needed. 

Part II of this process is the research proposal.

• This section consists of an oral examination based on a written dissertation research proposal. As soon as possible after successful completion of Part 1, the comprehensive exam, students work with the Program Director to identify a dissertation advisor, committee members from the Department of Epidemiology, and a research topic.

PhD Candidacy

Upon successful completion of the required coursework and both parts of the General Examination, the candidate will be recommended for promotion to PhD Candidacy in order to complete the dissertation research. More information is available in the Program Guide and from the Program Director.

Madhu Balachandran

Email: [email protected]

Start year: 2020

A Virginia Native, Madhu Balachandran earned his Bachelors’ in Neuroscience and Biology from the University of Virginia. He completed his MPH in Epidemiology at The George Washington University and has been working as a Data Manager for the GWU HIV Prevention Trials Unit (HPTN) and COVID Prevention Trials Unit (CoVPN) since 2015. He has previously worked as an Instructional Assistant in the GWU Department of Epidemiology for Advanced Epidemiology Methods, Principles of Epidemiology, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, and Analysis of Complex Surveys. His primary research interests are in structural barriers to HIV prevention services and in HIV/AIDS prevention interventions.

Recent publications:

M. Magnus, M. Levy, M. Balachandran, L. Wilton, M. Siegel, S. Calabrese, S. Fields, R. Brewer, A. Dright, J. Peterson, I. Kuo. Structural Barriers and Reasons Why We Are Still Failing to Stop HIV in an Era of Effective Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP): A Mixed-Method Study. Abstract - 9th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2017).

Levy, M. E., Watson, C., Balachandran, M., Kuo, I., Wilton, L., Brewer, R., Fields, S., Peterson, J., Magnus, M. Correlates of Uptake of HIV Prevention Interventions Among Black MSM in DC, 2013-2014. Poster Presentation - CROI Conference, February 2016.

Gaykema RP, Balachandran MK, Godbout JP, Johnson RW, Goehler LE. Enhanced neuronal activation in central autonomic network nuclei in aged mice following acute peripheral immune challenge. Autonomic Neuroscience. Jan 2007:137-42. E-publication August 14 2006.

Joya Bhattacharyya

Email: [email protected]

Start year: 2023

A Northern Virginia native, Joya Bhattacharyya earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Cognitive Neuroscience and Global Public Health from the University of Virginia. She went on to complete her MPH in Epidemiology at Columbia University. She currently works as a Graduate Research Assistant in the GWU Department of Epidemiology with Dr. Melinda Power. She has previously held research positions at the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Global Mental Health, the Nathan Kline Institute of Psychiatric Research, and the UVA Cognitive Aging Laboratory. Her research interests include the psychiatric epidemiology of affective and neurodegenerative disorders, as well as building capacity for mental health research and care in low- and middle-income countries.

 

 

Sydney Bornstein

Start year: 2020

Email: [email protected]

Sydney was born and raised in New Jersey. She received her BS in Biology from Lehigh University in 2018 and her MPH in Epidemiology with a Certificate in Global Health from Columbia University in 2020. While pursuing her MPH, she worked on HIV research studies in the United States and South Africa. Currently, she works as a Research Associate at the GWU HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) site. She has previously worked as a teaching assistant for the GWU Department of Epidemiology. Her primary research interests include HIV and aging, barriers to HIV prevention and treatment services, and access to mental health care.

Recent publications:

Bornstein, S., & Magnus, M. Feeling lonelier during the early COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of adults living in the United States. Psychiatry Research, 2022, 114759.

Thomas, G., Bornstein, S., Cho, K., & Rao, R. D. Industry payments to spine surgeons from 2014 to 2019: trends and comparison of payments to spine surgeons versus all physicians. The Spine Journal, 2022, 22(6), 910-920.

Mark Bova

Email: [email protected]

Start Year: 2019

A native of Connecticut, Mark received his BS in Immunology & Infectious Disease from Penn State University in 2012 and his MPH from Boston University in 2015 with a concentration in epidemiology. Since graduating from Boston University, he has worked as an epidemiologist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health doing surveillance of infectious diseases. His primary responsibilities included syndromic surveillance and surveillance of food-borne disease. He is pursuing a PhD in Epidemiology at GWU to study novel data sources and their ability to detect infectious disease outbreaks. He hopes to leverage these data sources and the growing volume of health data to respond to outbreaks faster than currently possible.

Recent publications:

Kennedy E. N., Troppy S., Bova M., Klevens R. M. (2018). Clostridium difficile Infection and Exposures in a Sample of Hospital Emergency Admissions in Massachusetts, Jan-Jun 2016. J Geriatr Med Gerontol. 4:047.

Morgan Byrne, MPH

Start Year: 2018

Email: [email protected]

Morgan is from Pittsburgh and obtained a BS in Biological Sciences from The Ohio State University in 2012 and an MPH in Biostatistics from GWU in 2015.   Currently, she is a Research Scientist supporting the Department of Epidemiology at the Milken Institute School of Public Health and the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Consulting Service at George Washington University.  Her projects have concentrated on longitudinal health outcomes for people living with HIV. She has served as an instructional assistant for several courses offered in the department. Her primary work provides analytical support for the D.C. Cohort, a multi-center prospective cohort study of people living with HIV who are engaged in care in the District of Columbia.  Before her role at the Milken Institute SPH, Morgan served as a biostatistician at the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program in support of the Henry Jackson Foundation, working primarily on the National History Study. Morgan intends to continue her Ph.D. work in areas of infectious disease.

Recent publications: 

Arnold JD, Byrne ME, Monroe AK, Abbott SE; District of Columbia Cohort Executive Committee. The Risk of Anal Carcinoma After Anogenital Warts in Adults Living With HIV. JAMA Dermatol. 2021 Jan 13:e205252. doi: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2020.5252. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33439220; PMCID: PMC7807394.

Byrne M, Leiser J, Mitchell SA, Kent EE, Siembida EJ, Somers T, Arem H. Trajectories of fatigue in a population-based sample of older adult breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer survivors: an analysis using the SEER-MHOS data resource. Support Care Cancer. 2021 Dec;29(12):7393-7402. doi: 10.1007/s00520-021-06267-w. Epub 2021 May 29. PMID: 34052930.

Byrne M, Akselrod H, Monroe AK, Horberg M, Lucar J, Castel AD, Denyer R, Doshi R, Secco A, Squires L, Schroeter S, Benator D. Identifying Geographic Areas of Washington, DC, With Increased Potential for Sexual HIV Transmission Among People With HIV With STIs and Concurrent Elevated HIV RNA: Data From the DC Cohort. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022 Mar 18. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac139

Justin Cubilo

Email: [email protected]

Start Year: 2019

Justin Cubilo is a Michigan native who came to the DC metro area after spending the past several years living in Honolulu, Boston, and Atlanta for work and school. He earned a BA (2009) in History and Classical Studies and an MA (2011) in Teaching English as a second language from Michigan State University, and a doctorate (2017) in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. As he was completing his doctorate, he decided to pursue a career in epidemiology. Therefore, he completed a Certificate in the Health Careers Program at the Harvard Extension School and applied to the Rollins School of Public Health MSPH program at Emory University in Atlanta, which he completed in 2019. While completing his MSPH, Justin interned for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and for the Healthcare team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (where he currently works). In addition, Justin has worked as a teaching assistant at Emory’s SPH for their Applied Data Analysis with STATA course and has served as a lecturer at MIT, Boston University, and Wheelock College for their courses on academic and scientific writing. Justin’s primary research interests lie broadly within social epidemiology in topics related to access to treatment and preventative services for substance abuse and mental health among people living with HIV. Justin is also interested in conducting research utilizing spatial and network modeling methodology in infectious disease epidemiology.

Recent publications:

Baker, J. M., Dahl, R. M., Cubilo, J., Parashar, U. D., & Lopman, B. A. (2019). Effects of the rotavirus vaccine program across age groups in the United States: Analysis of national claims data, 2001 – 2016. BMC Infectious Diseases, 19:186.

Summer Harvey

Email: [email protected]

Start year: 2023

Summer grew up in Northern Virginia and earned her bachelor’s degree (Biology; 2020) and MPH (Research in Practice concentration; 2021) from the University of Virginia. Since 2017, Summer has researched chronic gynecologic disease in the Division for Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute. While pursuing her PhD in Epidemiology, Summer is continuing her research at the NCI on obesity and cervical cancer screening, and the clinical epidemiology of endometriosis in the Connect for Cancer Prevention Study. She is also working as a teaching assistant for the GWU Department of Epidemiology, and as a research assistant in the GWU Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences. Her primary research interests include early life cancer risk factors and the utilization of gynecologic surgery, as well as endometriosis symptomology, diagnostics, and disease outcomes. In her PhD, Summer plans to focus on the clinical epidemiology of cancer and chronic disease, particularly pertaining to gynecology.

Recent publications:

1. Harvey SV, Wentzensen N, consortium coauthors, Clarke MA. Associations of life course obesity with endometrial cancer risk in the Epidemiology of Endometrial Cancer Consortium (E2C2). International Journal of Epidemiology, 2023. DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyad046. PMID: 37029916.
2. Harvey SV, Pfeiffer RM, Landy R, Wentzensen N, Clarke MA. Trends and predictors of hysterectomy prevalence among women in the United States. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2022.06.028. PMID: 35764133.
3. Clarke MA, Devesa SS, Harvey SV, Wentzensen N. Hysterectomy-corrected trends in uterine cancer incidence and relative survival reveal racial disparities and rising incidence of aggressive non-endometrioid cancers. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2019. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.19.00151. PMID: 31116674.

Ashley Hogan Tjaden

Email: [email protected]

Start Year:  2018

Ashley is a Biostatistician at the George Washington University Biostatistics Center. A Maryland native, she earned a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from GWU and a BA in Justice Studies with a minor in Anthropology from James Madison University.  Since 2012, she has supported the coordination of and data analysis for multi-center clinical trials and observational studies including two focused on type 2 diabetes in both youth and adults – the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS) and the Restoring Insulin Secretion (RISE) Study and more recently the Exercise and Nutrition Interventions to Improve Cancer Treatment-Related Outcomes (ENICTO) Consortium and the COVID-19 Community Research Partnership. She is involved at several levels of clinic trial management including form design, manual and protocol development, data management, staff training, study communications, reporting, and data analysis.  Her research interests include chronic disease management and prevention, particularly obesity and type 2 diabetes.

 

Recent publications:

Tjaden AH, Fette LM, Edelstein SL, Gibbs M, Hinkelman AN, Runyon M, Santos RP, Weintraub WS, Yukich J, Uschner D, The Covid-Community Research Partnership Study Group. Self-Reported SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Is Consistent with Electronic Health Record Data among the COVID-19 Community Research Partnership. Vaccines. 2022 Jun 24;10(7):1016. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10071016. PMID: 35891180; PMCID: PMC9316024.

Calamari LE, Tjaden AH, Edelstein SL, Weintraub WS, Santos R, Gibbs M, Ward J, Santacatterina M, Bertoni AG, Ward LM, Saydah S, Plumb ID, Runyon MS; COVID-19 Community Research Partnership Study Group. Self-reported mask use among persons with or without SARS CoV-2 vaccination -United States, December 2020-August 2021. Prev Med Rep. 2022 Aug;28:101857. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101857. Epub 2022 Jun 9. PMID: 35706687; PMCID: PMC9181355.

Allaire BT, Tjaden AH, Venditti EM, Apolzan JW, Dabelea D, Delahanty LM, Edelstein SL, Hoskin MA, Temple KA, Wylie-Rosett J, Jaacks LM; DPP Research Group. Diet quality, weight loss, and diabetes incidence in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). BMC Nutr. 2020 Dec 15;6(1):74. doi: 10.1186/s40795-020-00400-4. PMID: 33317629; PMCID: PMC7737274.

Sukyoung Jung

Start Year: 2018

Email: [email protected]

Sukyoung Jung is from Seoul, South Korea where she completed her BS and MS in Nutrition. Before joining the PhD in Epidemiology program at GW, Sukyoung worked on research on dietary factors and chronic diseases risk and public health policy for 9 years at the Korea Institute of Health and Social Affairs and two other research institutes. Her research interests lie in nutritional and cancer epidemiology: investigating the effect of various modifiable factors on the occurrence of cancer, covering dietary pattern, vitamin D, fatty acids, supplements, alcohol, and physical activity, which are ongoing debate topics and/or attracting discussion in this area. While at GW she hopes to contribute to the building of international research networks, providing an evidence-base for the guidance of a healthy diet for everyone on the planet within planetary boundaries.

Recent publications:

Jung S and Park S. Positive association of unhealthy plant-based diets with the incidence of abdominal obesity: Comparison of baseline, most recent, and cumulative average diets. Epidemiol Health 2022; e2022063 (Online ahead of print).

Jung S, Park S, and Kim JY. Comparison of dietary share of ultra-processed foods assessed with a food frequency questionnaire against a 24-hour dietary recall in adults: Results from KNHANES 2016. Public Health Nutr 2022;25(5): 1166-1175.

Jung S, Woo HY, Kim MK et al. Cumulative average nut consumption in relation to lower incidence of hypertension: a prospective cohort study of 10,347 adults. Eur J Nutr 2022;61: 1571-1583.

Xinyi Li (Lili)

Originally from China, Xinyi Li earned a Master of Public Health in Global Epidemiology from Emory University. While pursuing her MPH, she worked on multiple HIV prevention projects at both Emory PRISM Health and the Division of Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). After completing her MPH, she worked as an ORISE Fellow in data management and analysis at the National HIV Surveillance System at the CDC. Her responsibilities included studying the sexual and injecting behaviors in people who inject drugs and transgender women, respondent-driven sampling diagnostics, and surveillance tool kit development. Her primary research interests are focusing on HIV prevention and care delivery to underserved populations domestically and internationally.

Recent publication

Li, X., Sullivan, P., Broz, D., & Handanagic, S. (2022). Association Between Dual Partnership and Sexual and Injecting Behaviors Among Persons Who Inject Drugs in 23 US Cities, 2018. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1-12.

 

 

Lauren O’Connor

Start Year: 2021

Email: [email protected] 

Lauren grew up in Northern New Jersey and received her BS in Cell Biology/Biochemistry from Bucknell University in 2019. After her undergraduate years, she went directly to the University of Virginia to pursue her MPH with a concentration in Research in Practice. Throughout her MPH program she conducted research on hospital-acquired infections, diabetes prevention programs, cost-effective analysis, and the patient perspective of alopecia areata. During the pandemic, she worked with the UVA COVID-19 containment team and researched the effect of the MMR vaccine on COVID-19 outcomes. Lauren is currently interested in infectious diseases, especially emerging diseases, HIV coinfections, and vaccine education. While pursuing her PhD in Epidemiology, she is working with the DC Cohort to analyze aging and comorbidities among people with HIV and is serving as the Vice President for the Milken PhD Student Association. 

Recent Publications: 

Ramirez HC, Monroe, AK, Byrne M, O’Connor LF, DC Cohort Executive Committee. “Examining the Association Between a Modified Quan-Charlson Comorbidity Index (QCCI) and HIV Viral Suppression.” AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. 2023.

O’Connor LF, Madden GR, Stone D, Classen DC, Eby JC. “Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19 Among Health Care Workers.” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2023.

O’Connor LF, Wells KM. “Characterizing the willingness to undergo treatment in patients with alopecia areata.” Archives of Dermatological Research. 2021.

Daniela Poss

Email: [email protected]

Start year: 2017

Daniela was born and raised in the Washington DC Metropolitan area.  She attended Stevenson University in Owings Mills, MD, for her undergraduate years where she received a BS in Chemistry with a minor in Biology in 2012. In 2015, Daniela completed her MPH in Epidemiology at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. While pursuing her MPH, she worked on hematology oncology clinical trial research at NCI/NIH in Bethesda. Currently, she is an epidemiologist on the Alert and Response Operations team at the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch, conducting global bio surveillance including outbreak detection and tracking for our Armed Forces. Daniela is interested in the detection and control of emerging and reemerging infectious diseases and would like to continue to work in a public health practice role, translating data into actionable information, after earning her PhD.

Recent publications:

Hill, Sarah E.; Poss, Daniela E.; Schoelen, Michael; Harris, Stic. Incidence of Gastrointestinal Infections Among U.S. Active Duty Component Service Members in the U.S. compared to U.S. Civilians, 2012-2014. Medical Surveillance Monthly Report. July 2017; 24(7):20-25.

Darling, Nellie D.; Poss, Daniela E.; Brooks, Krista; et al. Laboratory Characterization of Noroviruses Identified in Specimens from Military Health System Beneficiaries During an Outbreak in Germany, 2016-2017. Medical Surveillance Monthly Report. July 2017; 24(7):26-29.

Poss, Daniela E.; Writer, James V.; Harris, Stic. Zika virus infections in Military Health System beneficiaries since the introduction of the virus in the Western Hemisphere, 1 January 2016 through 30 November 2016. Medical Surveillance Monthly Report. December 2016; 23(12):7-11.

Daniel Park

Start year: 2015

Email: [email protected]

Daniel was born in Maryland, but lived in Hong Kong and Taiwan for eight years before moving back to Maryland.  He received a BS in Biology from the University of Maryland and went on to get a MSPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has been working at the International Vaccine Access Center, based out of JHSPH, for the last four years.  Daniel’s work has focused primarily on pneumonia and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines including the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) project, a case-control etiology study of hospitalized pediatric patients with pneumonia in seven low- and middle-income countries. With his PhD, Daniel hopes to further his contributions in the academic and public health fields by developing a better understanding of the epidemiologic foundations of public health studies

Recent publications:

Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) Study Group (2019). Causes of severe pneumonia requiring hospital admission in children without HIV infection from Africa and Asia: the PERCH multi-country case-control study. The Lancet S0140-6736(19)30721-4

Moawad G, Tyan P, Marfori C, Khalil EB, Park DE (2019). Effect of Postoperative Partial Bladder Filling After Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy on Post Anesthesia Care Unit Discharge and Cost: A Single-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trial. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 220(4):367.e1-367.e7

Emmanouilidou D, McCollum ED, Park DE, Elhilali M (2018). Computerized lung sound screening for pediatric auscultation in noisy field environments. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2018; 65(7):1564-1574

Ziwei Song

Email: [email protected]

Start year: 2023

Ziwei was born in Changchun, China. She received her bachelor's degree in Health Administration from Sichuan University. After graduation, she went to Tulane University directly for her master’s in Epidemiology. Before joining GWU, she worked as an epidemiologist at CDC for 2 years, and moved to the west coast working as a statistician with Los Angeles County Cancer Registry at USC. Along her career path she developed a variety of research interests in cancer surveillance, epidemiological methodology, mental health, social determinants of health and health disparity, as well as statistical programming, parametric and nonparametric statistics.

Currently, she works as a Graduate Research Assistant on the impact of air pollution on cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease related dementia among aging population. While pursuing her PhD, she hopes to leverage statistical and epidemiological methodology for observational studies, further her devotes in public health and mitigating health disparity by better understanding concepts of applied epidemiology and biostatistics, and combining knowledge and practical skills in conducting unbiased scientific research.

Recent publications:

Bennett, E.E., Song, Z., Lynch, K.M., Liu, C., Stapp, E.M., Xu, X., Park, E.S., Ying, Q., Smith, R.L., Stewart, J.D., Whitsel, E.A., Mosley, T.H., Wong, D.F., Liao, D., Yanosky, J.D., Szpiro, A.A., Kaufman, J.D., Gottesman, R.F., Power, M.C. (in press). The association of long-term exposure to criteria air pollutants, fine particulate matter components, and airborne trace metals with late-life brain amyloid burden in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Environment International.

Zhou, K., Song, Z., Rostomian, N., Dodge, J. L., Stern, M. C., Setiawan, V. W., ... & Liu, L. (2023). Association of nativity with survival among adults with hepatocellular carcinoma. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, djad067.

Apryl Susi

Email: [email protected]

Start Year: 2017

Apryl was born and raised in New Hampshire. She attended the University of Connecticut and graduated with a BS in Medical Technology in 2010. In 2014 she completed her MS in Epidemiology from George Washington University. She has been working in pediatric and infectious disease research.

Adams D, Susi A, Nylund CM. Clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of patients hospitalized in the US military health system with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae infection. American Journal of Infection Control. June 2020.

Mitre E, Susi A, Kropp LE, Schwartz DJ, Gorman GH, Nylund CM. Association between Use of Acid-Suppressive Medications and Antibiotics during Infancy and Allergic Diseases in Early Childhood. JAMA Pediatrics. August 2018.  2018 Jun; 172(6): e180315

Heisel M, Susi A, Short P, Rogers P, Hisle-Gorman E, Gorman G, Nylund CM. Association of autism spectrum disorders and gastrointestinal infections in children. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders. September 2021.

Victoria Trapani

Start year: 2020

Email: [email protected]

Victoria is a Research Associate at the George Washington University Biostatistics Center, where she has worked since 2017. She is part of the Data Coordinating Center for the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study, a multi-center, longitudinal, observational follow-up of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) cohort, focused on adults with type 1 diabetes. In this role, she is involved in data management and analysis, form design, protocol development and adherence, and clinic staff training, among other aspects of trial coordination. Victoria's research interests include long-term outcomes of chronic disease and chronic disease management. Victoria is originally from Long Island, New York; after graduating with a BS in Health Science and Psychology from Stony Brook University, she moved to the Washington DC area and earned a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in Epidemiology from George Washington University.

Recent publications:

Steigmann L, Miller R, Trapani VR, Giannobile WV, Braffett BH, Pop-Busui R, Lorenzi G, Herman WH, Sarma AV. (2022). Type 1 diabetes and oral health: Findings from the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study. Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications, 36(4), 108120–108120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2021.108120

Martin CL, Trapani VR, Backlund J-YC, Lee P, Braffett BH, Bebu I, Lachin JM, Jacobson AM, Gubitosi-Klug R, Herman WH. (2022). Physical Function in Middle-aged and Older Adults With Type 1 Diabetes: Long-term Follow-up of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications Study. Diabetes Care, 45(9), 2037–2045. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc21-2119

Steven Towers

Email: [email protected]

Start Year: 2019

Steven Towers grew up in a small town west of Baltimore, Maryland. He went on to complete his undergraduate education in biology at the University of Maryland - College Park in 2010. He worked for many years prior to enrolling in the MPH Epidemiology program at the GWU Milken Institute School of Public Health, which he completed in December 2018. Steven started his career at the Division of AIDS, NIH, where he supported the research portfolio of the Basic Science Program, the Centers for AIDS Research, and the NIAID-sponsored Data and Safety Monitoring Boards. In 2015, his interests in global HIV treatment and prevention programs led him to the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, which centrally manages the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). At OGAC, Steven helped support the administration of three PEPFAR-funded, cluster-randomized trials that assessed the efficacy of combination packages of HIV preventive services. In June 2018, Steven joined USAID/Office of HIV/AIDS as an Analyst on the Behavioral and Structural Interventions Branch. At USAID, Steven performed routine and customized analyses in support of program areas including, VMMC, PrEP, HTS, ART adherence, and finding and engaging men. Prior to enrolling in the PhD program, Steven also served as the Performance and Transition Coordinator for Uganda, during which he provided direct program implementation support to the USAID field team in Uganda. Steven's research interests are in global HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, specifically cluster-randomized trials that assess the efficacy of combination packages of HIV therapeutic and preventive services. Further program and research interests include the optimization of index testing, demand creation for HIV biomedical prevention services, and identifying behavioral and structural barriers that impact individual and population-level uptake of HIV treatment and prevention interventions.

Jincheng Wang

Email: [email protected].

Start year: 2022

Born in Shandong Province, China, Jincheng Wang obtained his bachelor’s degree in medicine at Central South University Xiangya Medical School in 2017 and an MS in radiology at Peking University Health Science Center in 2020. He also received his certification as a physician and finished his residency at Peking University People Hospital and Peking University Cancer Hospital. During his Master’s studies he focused on the survival analysis of rectal cancer and glioma, especially exploring the relative risk factors to predict the outcome of patients on MR imaging. Before coming to GW, Jincheng was a radiologist at Peking university cancer hospital and served as senior clinical specialist at an artificial intelligence company concentrating on medical imaging.

With his PhD, Jincheng hopes to focus on cancer and chronic disease, combining concepts aspects of medical science and epidemiology, and contribute to building more efficient and lower-cost public health system.

Recent publications:

Li M, Ren X, Chen X, Wang J, Shen S, Jiang H, Yang C, Zhao X, Zhu Q, Cui Y, Lin S. Combining hyperintense FLAIR rim and radiological features in identifying IDH mutant 1p/19q non-codeleted lower-grade glioma. Eur Radiol. 2022 Jun;32(6):3869-3879. doi: 10.1007/s00330-021-08500-w. 

Wang Y, Yao M, Wang J, Liu H, Zhang X, Zhao L, Hu X, Guan H, Lyu Z. Effects of Antidiabetic Drugs on Endothelial Function in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 Mar 17;13:818537. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.818537.

Adam Ward
Name: Adam Ward

Email: [email protected]

Start year: 2016

Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Adam moved to Raleigh, NC, where he completed a BS in Environmental Sciences and later an MS in Comparative Biomedical Sciences at North Carolina State University. Adam is also a graduate of George Washington University's Graduate Certificate program in LGBT Health Policy & Practice, which he completed before moving to Washington, DC, to begin the PhD program in Epidemiology at GWU.

Adam works as a Research Associate in the laboratory of R. Brad Jones, PhD, in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at GWU, as well as in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. His research focuses broadly on HIV immunoepidemiology and immunotherapeutic approaches to HIV cure, as well as basic science studies of the HIV reservoir. Currently, his dissertation research is titled "Investigation into HIV Reservoir Size, Longitudinal HIV-Specific T-cell Response Trends, and Inflammatory Biomarkers, and their Interactions, in People Living with HIV on Long-Term Antiretroviral Therapy." In addition to bench-based and epidemiological research experience, Adam has extensive experience in community outreach and engagement, and a passion for public health. 

Recent publications:

A.R. Ward, T.M. Mota, R.B. Jones, Immunological approaches to HIV cure, Seminars in Immunology. (2020) 101412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smim.2020.101412.

M.L. Pratt-Chapman, A.R. Ward, Provider Recommendations Are Associated with Cancer Screening of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People: A Cross-Sectional Urban Survey, Transgender Health. 5 (2020) 80–85. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2019.0083.

L. Dubrovsky, A. Ward, S.-H. Choi, T. Pushkarsky, B. Brichacek, C. Vanpouille, A.A. Adzhubei, N. Mukhamedova, D. Sviridov, L. Margolis, R.B. Jones, Y.I. Miller, M. Bukrinsky, Inhibition of HIV Replication by Apolipoprotein A-I Binding Protein Targeting the Lipid Rafts, MBio. 11 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02956-19.

 

Rowena Yip

Start Year: 2014

Email: [email protected]

Rowena is originally from Hong Kong, she received her BS in Biology at University of Oregon and her MPH in Biostatistics at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, New York. Since her graduation, she has been working as a biostatistician and data manager for the International Early Lung Cancer and Cardiac Action Program (I-ELCAP), an international collaboration with over 70 sites around the world. Her work primarily focused on early detection of lung cancer with low dose CT screening and other related issues. Her research interests include cancer screening, smoking cessation, risk modeling, as well as chronic disease epidemiology.

Recent publications:

Yip R, Yankelevitz DF, Hu M, Li K, Xu DM, Jirapatnakul A, Henschke CI. Lung Cancer Deaths in the National Lung Screening Trial Attributed to Nonsolid Nodules. Radiology. 2016 Nov;281(2):589-596.

Henschke CI, Yip R, Smith JP, Wolf AS, Flores RM, Liang M, Salvatore MM, Liu Y, Xu DM, Yankelevitz DF; International Early Lung Cancer Action Program Investigators. CT Screening for Lung Cancer: Part-Solid Nodules in Baseline and Annual Repeat Rounds. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2016 Oct 11:1-9.

Henschke CI, Yankelevitz DF, Yip R, Archer V, Zahlmann G, Krishnan K, Helba B, Avila R. Tumor volume measurement error using computed tomography imaging in a phase II clinical trial in lung cancer. J Med Imaging (Bellingham). 2016 Jul;3(3):035505. doi: 10.1117/1.JMI.3.3.035505. Epub 2016 Sep 20.

 

Mianmian Yu

Start Year: 2020

Email: [email protected]

Mianmian was born in China and is fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese. She received her Master of Public Health from Emory University.  She also holds degrees in Computer Science and International Studies. Before joining GW, she spent most of her early career on large-scale public health research projects. Collaborating with the United States Agency for International Development, the World Bank, and the United Nations, she participated in designing, implementing, and analyzing nationally representative public health surveys in more than 15 countries. She also led international capacity-building activities on computer-assisted survey implementation, data processing, and data analysis. Her current research interests include clinical trials and chronic disease prevention and control.

Recent publications:

National Population Commission (NPC) [Nigeria] and ICF. 2019. Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018. Abuja, Nigeria, and Rockville, Maryland, USA: NPC and ICF.

National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) and ICF. 2018. Malawi Malaria Indicator Survey 2017. Lilongwe, Malawi, and Rockville, Maryland, USA: NMCP and ICF.

 

Yue (Daniel) Zhu

Start Year: 2015

Daniel Zhu received his Master degrees in Pharmacology and in Epidemiology from University of Maryland. He is currently working in a biotech company. He has strong interests in cancer epidemiology and chronic disease epidemiology.