People

Dr. Seema Lakdawala
Associate Professor; Emory University
Adjunct Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Email: seema.s.lakdawala@emory.edu
PhD: University of California San Diego
Post-Doc: National Institutes of Health (NIAID)
PubMed Publications
Dr. Valerie Le Sage
Research Assistant Professor
Email: valerie.lesage@pitt.edu
PhD: McGill University
Post-doc: Queen’s University, Canada and McGill University, Canada
PubMed Publications
Meredith Shephard
Research Technician, Emory University
Email: mjs379@pitt.edu
Bachelors: Juniata College
Project: PHIGHT COVID, ferret transmission, and human challenge
Andrea (Janie) French
PMI Graduate Student
Email: andrea.french@pitt.edu
Bachelors: University of Wisconsin -Madison
Project: The impact of co-infection with S. Pneumoniae on influenza transmission.
Dr. Nicole Rockey
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: nicolecrockey@pitt.edu
PhD: University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
Project: Effects of pre-existing immunity to seasonal human coronaviruses on SARS-CoV-2 transmission
PubMed Publications
McKenzie Mullis
Research Technician
Email: mckenzie.leigh.mullis@emory.edu
Project: Human challenge studies

Lab Alumni:


Sydney Walter (2021-2022)
Technician
Current Position: Research Technician

Dr. Jenny Jones (2017-2022)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Current Position: Staff Scientist Dr. John Williams

Annika Avery (2019-2021)
Technician
Current Position: PhD student at Arizona State University

Richard Manivanh (2019-2021)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Current Position: Traveling the Country/Living Life

Eric Nturibi (2015-2018)
Technician
Current Position: Medical Student at the University of Pittsburgh 
Publication: 2017

Ben Hoffman (2018-2019) 
Technician
Current Position: Physician Assistant

Dr. Karen Kormuth (2016-2019) 
Postdoctoral Fellow
Current Position: Science writer
Publications: 2018, 2019  

Dr. Amar Bhagwat (2015-2019) 
Research Assistant Professor
Current Position: Laser/Optical Physicist at the Dynamic Compression Sector of the Advanced Photon Source
Publication: 2018  2020

Zhihong Qian (2018-2020) 
Visiting Researcher (Tsinghua University Medical Student)
Current Position:  Tsinghua University Medical Student

Gabby Padovani (2019-2020) 
Research Technician
Current Position: Clinical Laboratory Technician

Undergraduate Alumni: 
2016-2021 Elizabeth McGrady
2016-2017 Gabrielle Simon
2017-2018 Kyle Grabowski
2018-2020 Logan Hellinger

Rotation/Summer Students:  2016 – Elizabeth McGrady (UPCI Summer Academy), 2016 – Julia Loose (IBGP), 2017 – Azia Evans (PMI), 2017 – Chris Lee (PMI), 2017 – Benni Vargas (PMI), 2017 – Dan Evans (PMI), 2017 – Philip Ziegler (PMI), 2018 – Alex Wells (PMI),  2019 – Xay Somoulay (PMI), 2019 – Alexis Duray (PMI), 2019 – Darryl Abbott (PMI), 2020 – Janie French (PMI)