Our Team
Describe your team here.
Sandra is interested in vector ecology and vector-human interactions. She graduated with a BA in Biology in 2018 from Western Connecticut State University after which she worked in multiple integrated tick management studies and surveillance projects. She is currently working as a research assistant in the Diuk-Wasser lab focusing on urban ecology and the Tick App.
I am from Horseheads, New York and I graduated from SUNY Geneseo in 2019 with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in environmental studies. I am an M.A. candidate in the E3B department planning to complete my degree in May 2021. My current research aims to determine the drivers of tick densities in residential, urban areas using Staten Island as a case study. My general research interests include dynamics of vector-borne transmission cycles, agent-based modeling as a tool to explore coupled human and natural systems, the impact of climate change on infectious diseases, and movement ecology of mammals.
Nichar is interested in the ecological drivers of vector-borne disease transmission, particularly in understanding how variation in vector life-history shapes transmission dynamics. She holds a PhD from Imperial College London, for which she quantified the impacts of tropical forest conversion in Malaysian Borneo on Aedes albopictus mosquito biology and vectorial capacity. Her research integrates entomological fieldwork, laboratory experiments and mathematical models to develop mechanistic frameworks for predicting vector-borne disease risk in rapidly changing landscapes. Currently, she is working with the Eco-Epidemiology Lab to study the dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human systems (CNHs) in tick- and mosquito-borne diseases in the Northeastern United States.
Michaela is an M.A. candidate in the Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B) department at Columbia University and is planning to complete her degree in May 2022. Before coming to Columbia, Michaela graduated from Bucknell University in 2019 with a B.S. in Animal Behavior and a minor in education. Her current research focuses on the relationships between wildlife host movement and distribution ecology, urban environments, tick distribution and abundance, and zoonotic spillover.
Meredith is a PhD student and has a background in community ecology and conservation biology. Her previous master’s research examined the impacts of suburbanization on trematode infections in green frog populations. For her dissertation, she is researching how land alteration and habitat disturbance alters host movement, community assemblage and vector genomic differentiation.
Matt is interested in the ecology and evolution of zoonotic diseases and their wildlife hosts with the aim to improve understanding and management of species that impact public health. Currently, Matt is researching the evolution of host specificity across Borellia strains to better understand the eco-epidemiology of strain diversity in natural populations and the immunological mechanisms underlying host infection. Matt received his PhD from Fordham University where he studied spatial population genetics and landscape ecology of urban rat populations. He sought to identify movement patterns of this anthrodependent species through complex urban landscapes to understand the influence of urbanization on wildlife and improve ecologically-integrated pest management strategies. Additionally, Matt pursues opportunities to incorporate art and science into outreach efforts and enjoys birding, hiking, photography, and trivia.
Maria is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B). Her research integrates a wide range of empirical and analytical tools to disentangle the ecological and environmental drivers for the emergence of vector-borne diseases, particularly tick-borne. Current research focuses on the role of pathogen interactions, host community composition, climate and land use change in the epidemics of multiple tick-borne pathogens in the United States. Other research interests include landscape ecology, evolutionary ecology, behavioral ecology and conservation biology.
Dr. Fernandez is an assistant professor at the Allen School for Global Animal Health at Washington State University and principal investigator in the federal grant that funds this project. As a disease ecologist her research focuses on the eco-epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, and in particular, vector-borne diseases. She graduated from the University of Buenos Aires and has worked primarily on Chagas disease in Argentina, and tick-borne diseases in the Northeast USA during her time as a postdoc at Columbia University. Her main research interests lay in understanding the transmission of zoonotic diseases as complex socio-ecological systems, combining methods from epidemiology and ecology. The ultimate goal of her research is to identify critical factors affecting disease transmission, which will aid in the design of improved intervention strategies to alleviate the biological and socio-economic burden of these diseases in affected communities.
Laura is interested in the effect of anthropogenic drivers, specifically related to land conversion and habitat fragmentation, on spillover (and spillback) of zoonoses and examining the relationships within and between systems that allow for pathogen emergence, transmission, and establishment.
Brigitte is from Staten Island, New York. She is completing a B.S in Biology at the College of Staten Island. Her primary research focuses on vector-borne and zoonotic diseases and how they may impact various communities. Previously Brigitte worked to elucidate the effects of exposure to various environmental contaminants on the three-dimensional anatomical structure of the planarian brain. She hopes that her research will contribute to essential data regarding the impact of ticks and Lyme disease on Staten Island.
Catherine graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 2019 with a degree in public health and animal behavior. After graduation, she studied Yersinia pestis and oral vaccines in black-footed prairie dogs with USGS in Badlands National Park. She continued on to work for the Peace Corps in Rwanda as a maternal health educator.
Currently, she is working in the Eco-Epidemiology Lab to examine the social and environmental drivers of Borrelia burgdorferi. Her research interests focus on the epidemiology of zoonotic vector-borne diseases and global health inequities.
In August, she still be attending graduate school at Washington State University to study the eco-epidemiology of zoonotic diseases.