#WeAreEmoryEPI: Akshay Deverakonda

Welcome back to #WeAreEmoryEPI! This week, we heard from second-year EPI MSPH student Akshay Deverakonda. Read more below about his exciting and relevant work in infectious disease epidemiology!

Tell us about your academic history/where you went to school.

I graduated from The College of William & Mary in Virginia with a double major in Biology & Environmental Science. I worked for several years between undergraduate and graduate school so it took me a while to find my way to public health, but I feel I came to Rollins at the right time for me.

What are your primary research interests?

I’m interested in spatial epidemiology, vector-borne diseases, and using novel data streams (e.g. wastewater surveillance) for infectious diseases.

Are there any exciting projects that you are currently working on that you’d like to share with us? 

For my master’s thesis, I’m analyzing a dataset of several years of dengue cases in Mexico to understand what may influence hotspots of certain serotypes. It’s interesting and important because dengue has four serotypes; when you get infected with one serotype of dengue, you can still get infected by the other three serotypes with often worse outcomes in subsequent infections. Having national-level datasets of dengue where you know the serotype of each case is rare, so I’m fortunate to work on a research question that I think is really cool and relevant for infectious disease epidemiology.

What is your favorite part about earning your MPH at Emory?

It’s been really inspiring to be in a community where faculty, staff, and students all bring their own unique talents, skills, and abilities towards the common goal of uplifting everyone. I’ve learned so much both professionally and personally from my teachers and peers. 

When applying, what were you looking for in a public health school, and what factors drove you to pick Rollins?

I was looking for schools where I could either take classes or do research at the intersection of spatial epidemiology and infectious disease epidemiology. I chose Rollins for its emphasis on epidemiologic methods and conversations with multiple professors during my first visit that showed me I’d be able to pursue the aforementioned interests.

What has been your favorite class at Rollins thus far, and why?

Oooh, this is hard! I took a really cool class, BSHES 740, last fall semester. It was about using natural language processing and machine learning to examine trends in social media related to substance use disorders and drug-related harms. I felt I was pushed beyond what I thought I could do and the professor, Dr. Abeed Sarker, is a really good explainer/communicator. The class really helped me reinforce concepts in machine learning and I learned so much about how to analyze textual social media data. I want to apply the same methods to infectious disease epidemiology by learning how to analyze electronic health records as a novel form of disease surveillance.

What advice do you have for 1st years?

Learn how to say “no”! Rollins has a lot of great opportunities and it’s good to try different things out, but always ask yourself: (1) what your most important aims/goals are for graduate school and (2) what can you do to align your commitments and schedule with what you want to get out of school?

What are three fun facts that you want people to know about you?

1. I love German Shepherd dogs and hope to have one of my own someday.
2. My New Years’ Resolution last year was to avoid pizza until I met a personal health goal of losing 30 pounds; I met my goal in mid-December so I didn’t eat pizza for most of 2024.
3. I love learning bits and pieces of different languages.

How have you been spending your free time?

#WeAreEmoryEPI: Dr. Alvaro Alonso

Happy Monday, everyone! This week, we heard from Dr. Alvaro Alonso, a faculty member in the EPI department. Read more about his background and work below!

Tell us a little about your academic history/where you went to school.

#WeAreEmoryEPI: Aryn O’Dell

This week on #WeAreEmoryEPI, we’re hearing from first-year EPI MPH student Aryn O’Dell. Read more below about her background and interests!

Tell us about your academic history/where you went to school.

#WeAreEmoryEPI: RISE Student Feature

We hope you all have been taking care as we begin to close out the Fall semester! This week, we heard from Shimoli Parikh, a second year GLEPI MPH student working for the Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast (RISE). Read more below to hear about the organization and her compelling work!

Tell us about your academic history/where you went to school. 

Before the MPH program, I completed a B.S. degree in Biology and a minor in Psychology at Seton Hall University in my home state of New Jersey. During my time at Seton Hall, I worked in spaces on campus that influenced my decision to join the public health field, such as working to advance menstrual product access, the expansion of sexual education, and the prioritization of Title IX violations among the student body and university administration.

How long have you been with RISE, and how did you start your work with them? 

I started working for RISE during the fall of my first semester, so it’ll be almost two years by the time I complete my MPH degree. During my first semester, I took an elective called Technology of Fertility Control with Dr. Narasimhan, which is how I came across the GRA position for her current study.

Are there any projects you are working on/have worked on involving RISE that you’d like to share?

I’m involved with two different RISE projects: the Telehealth Medication Abortion (TMAB) study and the Induced Terminations of Pregnancy (ITOP) study. The current TMAB study is a survey assessing how patient-centered family planning care may be delivered via a variety of new modalities in the rural South, for which I have been involved in the literature review, survey development, and now data analysis stages over the past year. My subset of the ITOP study is my thesis, where I am using abortion incidence data to analyze how procedure method, age, and weeks gestation trends differed by geographic location within Georgia from 2010-2022.

What is your favorite part about being a part of this organization? Alternatively, what compelled you to work with RISE? 

I honestly knew I wanted to work with RISE when I applied to Rollins. As someone who has some prior experience in the public health aspects of reproductive health, I was drawn to the opportunity to contribute to the field during some of the biggest shifts in the abortion and contraception landscape following the Dobbs decision. My favorite part about being a part of this organization is their continuous emphasis in giving me the opportunity to build the skills that I want to build.

Are there any other related initiatives on and around RSPH that you’ve been a part of that you’d like to share? 

I also serve as Community Liaison of the Emory Reproductive Health Association! Through my role, I was able to organize a successful Reproductive Networking Night in the Spring as well as present my thesis research this past October at GEMMA (the Global Elimination of Maternal Mortality from Abortion) Night.

Are there any upcoming projects or studies with RISE that you’d like people to know about?

I’d definitely encourage people interested in the abortion field to take RISE’s “Public Health Approaches to Abortion” course on Coursera. https://www.coursera.org/learn/public-health-approaches-to-abortion

How can interested students/faculty get involved with RISE? 

Reach out to anyone on the RISE team! They are super helpful and will direct you to the right person. Also, follow the RISE instagram page (@emory.rise) to stay updated.

What are three fun facts that you want people to know about you? 

1. I have two cats named Mango and Olive. 🙂
2. I listen to a lot of Bollywood music, but some other current favorite artists are Summer Walker, SiR, Ari Lennox, Dhruv, and melvitto. 
3. I LOVE modern art, and I also love to read feminist and South Asian books. (My favorite nonfiction book: The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan)

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   Thank you for joining us, Shimoli! As an additional reminder, be sure to follow the RISE Instagram page @emory.rise, and check out RISE’s “Public Health Approaches to Abortion” Coursera course at https://www.coursera.org/learn/public-health-approaches-to-abortion. Stay tuned to see who we talk to next, and we hope you all have a great Thanksgiving break! 

#WeAreEmoryEPI: Inside the APE (GFE Edition!)

Welcome back to #WeAreEmoryEPI! This week, we heard from two second year EPI/GLEPI MPH students that received a Global Field Experience (GFE) award for their APEs this Summer. Read more below to hear about their projects and where they traveled to! 

Tell us about your academic history/where you went to school.

Alia: I received my Bachelor’s degree in Human Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from Emory University’s College of Arts and Sciences. 

Claire: Before Rollins, I attended Tufts University where I majored in International Relations, concentrated in Global Health, and minored in Spanish, while also playing soccer for four years.

What are your primary research interests?

Alia: I am interested in leveraging insights from the intersection of molecular epidemiology and immunology to drive improved surveillance for and early detection of emerging vector-borne, zoonotic, and tropical infectious diseases.

I enjoy exploring how the immunologic characterization of risk factors for different infection outcomes and associated transmission dynamics can inform prevention activities at the population scale.

Inspired by my upcoming thesis research regarding the role of micronutrient deficiencies in progression from latent to active leprosy infection, I have also recently become interested in the fascinating (and challenging!) methods used to harness -omics-level data. 

 

Claire: As a GLEPI student pursuing a Certificate in Climate and Health, I aim to work towards Climate Preparedness among individuals living in under resourced and vulnerable settings. I want to research sustainable strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change on health outcomes.

 

Where did you travel for your APE & how long were you there? 

Alia: I worked in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for 6 weeks.

Claire: I traveled to an Indigenous community called Santa Apolonia in Guatemala and was there for six weeks.

Tell us about your APE project.

Alia: Under sponsorship from the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s (KKI) Dr. James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases RISE Graduate Research Fellowship, I worked with the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) and Emory University’s School of Medicine to support the development of a longitudinal cohort study derived from a cross-sectional serosurveillance pilot conducted in 2023. The ongoing longitudinal arm of the study is monitoring a group of participants from the pilot study who were seroreactive to a leprosy-specific antigen for progression from latent to active infection. Additionally, we are interested in characterizing hypothesized risk factors for infection progression like helminth co-infection and micronutrient deficiencies. 

Claire: In Santa Apolonia, I collaborated with fellow Rollins student, Amelia Heckman, and local community stakeholders to develop a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). We created and administered 115 culturally sensitive surveys, conducted twelve key informant interviews in Spanish, and employed quantitative and qualitative analyses using SAS, Excel, and MAXQDA. We are now finalizing the assessment and will distribute it to community leaders and stakeholders to guide future health polices and initiatives.

What is something you learned while living in a new place/working on your APE?

Alia: While working at AHRI, I was privileged to attend 2 fantastic conferences: the 50th anniversary of the WHO’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases and the close-out of the TBGEN-Africa study. Listening to the conversations had by professionals at both events taught me that shared focus across disciplines and institutions is a quintessential aspect of sustainable progress in public health. I found it very valuable to hear how public health practitioners from diverse backgrounds utilized their unique skillsets to contribute to goals that require an incredible degree of cooperation. 

 

Claire:  I learned how challenging it can be to design a culturally sensitive survey that is both easily understandable and free of bias, while also capturing the comprehensive data needed for analysis. I also discovered how fun it is to live with nuns 🙂

 

How did you find your APE project? 

Alia: My APE advisor, Dr. Jessica Fairley, was an ongoing research mentor of mine, and I was actively looking for ways to get more involved in her group. She applied to be a mentor with the Ferguson RISE program, and she suggested I apply and request to match with her so I could be involved in her work in Ethiopia while also participating in the training activities organized by KKI.

 

Claire: I discovered this APE by reaching out to several professors to learn about their ongoing projects and to find one that aligned with my research interests. Professor Tom Clasen and his wife, Mary Pat Clasen, had previous relations with the organization we partnered with in Santa Apolonia. They emphasized the community’s significant issues with malnutrition and maternal and child health, which ultimately drew me to the CHNA project. 

When did you start looking for an APE? When did you start working for your APE organization/advisor?

Alia: I started planning my APE toward the end of Fall semester so I’d have ample time to apply for the Ferguson RISE program and GFEFA (Global Field Experience Financial Award) early in the Spring semester, but I didn’t formalize travel plans or project objectives until March. I was introduced to my Ethiopian colleagues via Zoom in April, and I formally began working on-site in June.

 

Claire: I started looking for my APE during winter break and began working on the GFE and literature reviews in March/April.

Are you pursuing any certificates? If so, was it difficult to meet your APE requirements?

Alia: Yes, I am in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology (IDEPI) and Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology (GME) certificates. The GME requirements were more challenging to meet than the IDEPI requirements, so I actively designed my experience at AHRI to allow me to study under immunologists and molecular epidemiologists and explore a blend of wet- and dry-lab work environments.

 

Claire: I am pursuing the Climate & Health Certificate, which strongly encourages students to choose an APE that either provides substantive experience with climate change or offer hands-on experience with tools relevant to climate and health. However, the APE does not have to meet these specific criteria to qualify, making it relatively straightforward to meet the certificate requirements.

 

Any advice for people looking to complete their APE with a GFE award (or people looking to travel abroad for their APE in general)?

Alia: Traveling abroad for work is equally about contributing to your project and finding value in the experiences and topics that are important to your mentors and peers, so get comfortable saying yes to things! While at AHRI, I was passionate about the research, but I was also excited by the chance to have lunch with colleagues I’d never met before, tour labs I wasn’t a part of, attend talks from other departments, and generally catch a glimpse of the things that were important to the culture of the institution.

 

Claire: Begin the process of searching for an APE early so that you can secure an opportunity that closely aligns with your research interests.

 

What are three fun facts you want people to know about you?

Alia:

1. It is a lifelong dream of mine to hike the Appalachian Trail.
2. I have dyed my hair every color of the rainbow (some colors on accident).
3. I am an avid plant parent, and my favorite houseplant is the Begonia maculata.

Claire:

1. I played an extra year of soccer at Emory while pursuing my MPH
2. I am bald (alopecia)
3. I’ve run the Boston marathon!

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Thanks for joining us this week, and stay tuned to see who we talk to next on #WeAreEmoryEPI! 

Contact Information: 

Alia: I am happy to provide advice to prospective applicants to KKI’s Ferguson RISE Graduate Research Fellowship. If anyone is interested in discussing the application, research opportunities, funding structure, etc., please feel free to email me at alia [dot] bly [at] emory [dot] edu.

Claire: Instagram — Clairewilkinson12

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Thanks for joining us on #WeAreEmoryEPI this week! 

#WeAreEmoryEPI: Introducing the 2024-25 communication’s team!

Welcome back to #WeAreEmoryEPI, and we hope you all had a great start to the semester! This week, we are introducing our communication’s team for the year, consisting of Shamika Chavda (Twitter/X & #WeAreEmoryEPI), Kanak Belgaum (Instagram @RollinsEpiLife), and our new member, Chloe Wolma (The Confounder). Get to know our team members (new and returning) below!

Tell us about your academic history/where you went to school.

Shamika: I graduated from the University of Florida in May 2023 with a bachelor’s in public health and minor in health disparities in society. 

Kanak: I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2022 and majored in Animal Science.

Chloe: I went to Michigan State University and studied Environmental Biology/Zoology. After graduating, I took a gap year to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Ingham County Health Department in Lansing, MI with a goal of improving college access/readiness in the Lansing area.

Thanks for joining us this week on #WeAreEmoryEPI, and stay tuned to see who we talk to next week! 

#WeAreEmoryEpi: Meet Dr. Jodie Guest!

Meet Dr. Jodie Guest! Dr. Guest has been an RSPH faculty member since 2015 and is the Senior Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology. She has led several outbreak response, advisory, and leadership teams throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and is on the Atlanta Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board.  Read more to learn about her work with PRISM Health at Rollins! 

Tell us a little about your academic history/where you went to school. 

I went to Baylor for my undergraduate degree in communication disorders and concurrently got a Paramedic degree at Texas A&M and a post-bac nursing degree. I got my MPH in epidemiology and my PhD at Emory.

What are your primary research interests?

My research varies from HIV and COVID-19 prevention and care to science communication to applied work in communities with inequitable access.

How did you begin working with PRISM Health? 

I was the previously the Director of the HIV Research Department at the Atlanta VA Medical Center and moved to Emory full time to work with PRISM Health on HIV prevention studies and to do more teaching and mentoring with students.

What are some current initiatives, projects, or publications with PRISM Health that you are excited about and would like to share with us?

I am working with one of my doctoral students on a women’s prediction model to help guide who is most in need of PrEP to prevent HIV.

What has been the most rewarding part of working with PRISM Health?

Thank you for sharing with us, Dr. Guest! Dr. Guest can be found on Instagram and Twitter @jlguest, and you can read more about her extensive experience here. Stay tuned to see who we talk to next on #WeAreEmoryEpi! 

#WeAreEmoryEPI: Interdisciplinary EPI

Welcome back to #WeAreEmoryEPI! This week, we heard from first year MPH student Carson Bohl and second year EH-EPI student Seana Cleary to learn about their interdisciplinary interests within epidemiology!

Tell us about your academic history/where you went to school.

Carson: I went to Emory University for undergrad and studied psychology and human health.

Seana: Prior to coming to Rollins, I earned my B.S. in Biology & Public Health from The College of New Jersey in 2022.

What are your primary research interests, and how do you feel they intersect across multiple disciplines?

Carson: My primary interests lie in improving adolescent mental health through the development, implementation, and evaluation of structural/systems-level interventions in schools, workplaces, and the criminal justice system. This implementation science approach is inherently interdisciplinary because it relies on: 1) descriptive epidemiology and qualitative feedback to determine community needs and strengths and to develop culturally-tailored programs, and 2) analytic and methodological design considerations to evaluate the effectiveness, scalability, and generalizability of program implementation.

Seana: My main research interests lie within One Health, which focuses on the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. My experiences in this field have allowed me to develop and use skills in ecology, epidemiology, data analysis, health communication, and more.

How have you been able to explore your interdisciplinary interests? 

Carson: For my APE and thesis, I am working in the context of school-based mental health grants to conduct community needs assessments, implement a multi-tiered trauma-informed intervention, and evaluate implementation effectiveness and sustainability. We are directly engaged with community stakeholders and will be addressing mental health disparities among LGBTQI+ students and students with disabilities. 

Seana: At Rollins, my APE and thesis focused on data management and predictors of mosquito-borne illnesses in children in Mexico. I also worked on community-engaged research with a cohort of people exposed to polybrominated biphenyls in Michigan and currently work with CDC’s One Health Office as a Surveillance and Epidemiology Intern. 

#WeAreEmoryEPI: World TB Day, Part 2!

Welcome back to #WeAreEmoryEPI! This week, we’re highlighting a few faculty members involved in TB research! Read more about Drs. Sarita Shah, Matt Magee, and Sara Auld’s work below. As a reminder, be sure to keep an eye out for events and seminars held by the TB Research Advancement Center until March 28th! 

Tell us a little about your academic history/where you went to school.

Dr. Auld: For my undergraduate studies, I was a history major at Stanford before going on to medical school at Columbia University and internal medicine residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital. I then took a slight detour from the traditional clinical pathway and spent two years in the international TB branch at the CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer, before coming here to Emory where I did a pulmonary and critical care fellowship and MSCR program at the Laney school.

Dr. Shah: I spent 8 years in Baltimore for undergraduate and medical school at Johns Hopkins, then moved to New York for residency training in Internal Medicine and MPH, both at Columbia. After residency, I moved to Atlanta to serve as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in CDC’s Division of Tuberculosis Elimination.

Dr. Magee: I went to undergraduate school at Grinnell College and then to University of Illinois at Chicago for a MPH. My PhD and post doc training was at Emory.

What are your primary research interests?

Dr. Auld: I have engaged in a range of studies around TB, HIV, and lung health. My main research area (for now) is around post-TB lung disease and better understanding the long-term consequences of TB disease (a la long COVID, but long TB).

Dr. Shah: My research focuses on improving prevention, treatment, and care for people with or at risk for TB in areas of the world where the burden is highest. This includes people HIV, close contacts of people with TB, and pediatric populations. A major goal is ensuring the research question is informed by practical clinical or public health issues so that findings can be translated into policy and practice.

Dr. Magee: I am interested in the relationship between tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases. This interest focuses on bi-directional relationships. For example, understanding how diabetes increases the risk of TB and also how TB increases the risk of diabetes.

How did you fall into the research that you are currently conducting?

Dr. Auld: I happened to meet the right people at the right time and was able to bring in my expertise and background in pulmonary medicine into new areas of TB research.

Dr. Shah: I have always been interested in the most pressing health issues in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), which were largely infectious diseases when I started my training. At the same time, HIV was a major health issue unfolding in the US and around the world during this time, which was something I wanted to be a part of responding to in some way. This drew me to pursue medical training followed by public health training, with a series of events along the way where I was in the “right place at the right time with the right people” that led me to my current research program.

Dr. Magee: During college I first became interested in epidemiology because of Paul Farmer’s book “Infections and Inequalities.” Then I had the opportunity to shadow the state epidemiologist from Iowa. Those early experiences were enough to get me hooked on epidemiology for life.

Are there any exciting projects or manuscripts that you are currently working on that you’d like to share with us? 

Dr. Auld: My biggest current project is based in Johannesburg, South Africa where we are enrolling a prospective longitudinal cohort of people with TB to better understand clinical risk factors and biological pathways that are associated with post-TB lung disease.

Dr. Shah: Yes! We just completed a study on transmission of drug-resistant TB (XDR TB) in South Africa and have been analyzing the data. Our goal is to examine where transmission is taking place outside of the usual places one thinks of, such as homes or hospitals. We’ve had several Rollins EPI students working on data entry, cleaning, and analysis over the past few years and it’s been great to see the MPH theses, PhD aims, abstracts, and papers that have come from this.

Dr. Magee: We are working on a few projects related to post TB lung and cardio metabolic health in the country of Georgia. Findings are still in the analysis phase but are exciting to me.

What is your favorite part of being at Emory?

Dr. Auld: Easy. I have wonderful colleagues who believe in the importance of personal well being and work-life balance/integration.

Dr. Shah: The people. 100% the people.

Dr. Magee: The collaborative atmosphere and great people.

Tell us about any classes that you’re teaching/have taught in the past. 

Dr. Auld: I am based in the School of Medicine and so much of my teaching happens during clinical rounds in the hospital with medical students, residents, and fellows.

Dr. Shah: I taught GH500 for 2 years and will be teaching a new course in Fall 2024 that I developed with a colleague at the Fulton County Board of Health. The course grew from our collaboration during COVID where we (including several Rollins students) worked hand-in-hand with Fulton County to support the response through case investigations, testing, contact tracing, and analytics. All of these experiences and lessons learned informed the course, which takes a broad look at how to use public health surveillance data (not limited to COVID) for public health response.

Dr. Magee: I’m currently teaching two analytic methods classes in the Masters of Science in Clinical Research Program (MSCR 530 and MSCR 534).

What advice do you have for students? 

Dr. Auld: Give yourself time to figure out what you really want to work on and trust that your training and background will open doors for you. Focus on finding a good mentor, rather than a specific project or area.

Dr. Shah: Try not to plan out every next step in your career path. Have a vision and goal, but try to let things unfold and you’ll be surprised at what paths make themselves known when the time is right.

Dr. Magee: Being a good writer remains an essential skill for success. One can always improve their writing skills.

What are three fun facts that you want people to know about you?

Dr. Auld:

1. I recently decided I needed new hobbies and so I started playing tennis (again, for the first time since I was a kid).
2. Once upon a time I was fluent in Japanese (but sadly, no longer), and am now reasonably proficient in Spanish.
3. I am a great sous chef.

Dr. Shah: 

1. I grew up in Cleveland
2. I was a competitive figure skater.

Dr. Magee: 

1. I like to cook.
2. I bike to Emory most days.
3. My current favorite author is Haruki Murakami.

How have you been spending your free time?

Dr. Auld: I have 3 kids and so they take up much of my free time, but I try to make space and time for reading novels and exercise/being outside.

Dr. Shah: Traveling. My daughter calls it extreme traveling. We travel a lot! 

What is one place in Atlanta that you would recommend people to visit?

Dr. Auld: Poor Hendrix for eating. Sope creek for not-too-far-away hike.

Dr. Magee: Arabia mountain is a great and nearby hike (except in the summer).

Do you have a Twitter/Instagram that you’d like us to plug?

Dr. Shah: @saritashahATL @Emory_TB_Center

Thank you to Drs. Auld, Shah, and Magee for their responses! Stay tuned to see who we talk to next on #WeAreEmoryEPI!