People

Sadie J. Ryan, PhD,
Associate Professor, Medical Geography
Department of Geography, University of Florida
Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida
Graduate Faculty, UF: Society, Natural Resources and Environment Program (SNRE),
Latin American Studies (LATAM), Environmental and Global Health (EGH)
Honorary (Affiliate) Faculty: Life Sciences,University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Global Health and Translational Science (CGHATS), SUNY Upstate Medical University
CV - Google Scholar

Catherine (Cat) Lippi, MFAS,
PhD track, Medical Geography, UF
Research Interests: ecological and anthropogenic factors affecting transmission of vector-borne diseases. By combining geographical, ecological, and epidemiological methodologies, I will elucidate pathogen-vector-host interactions for mosquito-borne diseases including dengue and Zika virus. This is a necessary step in developing effective public health recommendations for disease control.
Funding: NSF EEID
Personal Website
Google Scholar

Stephanie Mundis, MSc. (Biology and Geography),
PhD track, Medical Geography, UF
Research Interests: Vectorborne diseases, particularly Aedes-transmitted arboviral threats in the New World

Funding: UF Graduate School Fellowship

Stephen Mackay, UF '19
Undergraduate Researcher
Geography (Medical Geography)
Research Interests: spatial analyses of social-ecological systems approaches to vectorborne disease work in southern Ecuador

Funding: NSF REU (DEB EEID)
UF University Scholar 2018

Emily Stone, UF '23
Undergraduate Researcher
Molecular and Cellular Biology

Research interests: emerging pathogens including prion diseases; analysis of dengue and other vector-borne diseases in Ecuador; and mathematical modeling of disease effects.

Tyler G. James, Affiliated Researcher
Research Interests: Health disparities among people with disabilities; infectious disease prevention; application of spatial analyses to health education program development.

Personal Website

Gabriela Hamerlinck, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
Medical Geography, UF
Research interests: I am a quantitative ecologist broadly interested in ecological modeling of host-parasite interactions. I have additional research interests and postdoc experience in quantitative biology education.

Funding: CDC Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases

Rachel Sippy, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate
Medical Geography, UF
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Research interests: epidemiology, disease ecology, seasonality, vectorborne illness, spatial analyses, machine learning, compartmental models, causality
Personal website
Google Scholar

James Martin
MSc track, Medical Geography, UF

Research Interests: African trypanosomiasis and climate change; vectorborne diseases; 3D visualization utility for Geography

Akhil Kshirsagar, MPHTM (Tropical Medicine)
PhD track, Medical Geography, UF
Research Interests: Emerging pathogen threats, zoonotic systems

Funding: Department of Geography,
UF Graduate School Grinter Award

Alumni
Postdoctoral Researchers

Philipp Boersch-Supan, PhD
Postdoctoral Associate, Geography, UF
I am a marine ecologist studying life in the open ocean - the pelagic realm. Conducted postdoctoral work on the bioenergetics and foraging ecology of albatrosses. I use Bayesian and frequentist inference approaches for static and dynamic models of biological systems.
Funding: NSF POLAR
Personal Website Google Scholar
Current: Ecological Statistician, British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)

Karoun Bagamian, PhD, 2016-2017
Geography and EGH, UF
Research Interests: I am an interdisciplinary disease ecologist who has combined field, laboratory, and spatial analytic approaches in my research.
Funding: World Bank, PATH (Gates)
Personal Website Google Scholar

Current: Independent Scientific Consultant

Luis E. Escobar, DVM, PhD., 2014.
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Center for Global Health and Translational Science (CGHATS)
Luis worked on an 8 month postdoc with the cholera project in Ecuador, primarily on ecological niche modeling (ENM) of water borne pathogens and harmful algal blooms (HABs).
Current: Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech University

Graduate Students

Tess Youker-Smith, MSc, 2016
Research: Ranavirus outbreaks in vernal pool restoration
Funding: #SciFund, WNY Herpetological Society, Alexander Wetland Graduate Award
Amphibian Ranavirus Project

Rebecca Fuda, MSc, 2015
My research interests lie at the human-wildlife interface in African landscapes. In particular, I am interested in investigating the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on wildlife populations as well as factors contributing to human-wildlife conflict and potential strategies for mitigation.
Personal Website

Andrea Thomen, MSc, 2014
I use bird communities as bio-indicators for habitat quality, through the study of neotropical migrant birds in N. America and the Caribbean. For my MSc, I studied bird communities in organic cacao farms in the Dominican Republic and evaluate cacao potential as wildlife corridors.
Personal Website

Emily (Gavard) Almeroth, MPS, 2017
SUNY ESF, co-advised with Dr. C. Whipps
Research: Parasitology and nutrition in New England Cottontail rabbits in NY
Funding: New York Dept of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC)

Lindsey Scales, MPS, 2014
My interests include animal behavior and species preservation, with a primary focus on the conservation of African hoof stock. My goal is to utilize research on both captive and wild populations, along with breeding programs and public education, to preserve in situ populations as well develop captive management protocols.

Undergraduate Researchers

Taylor Rouviere, UF '18
Biology & Psychology (majors),
Geography & Disabilities in Society (minors)
Research Interests: disease modeling, statistical analyses in R, data visualization.
Funding: UF University Scholars 2017

Lauren N. Fregosi, BS, 2017
Biotech BS, Syracuse University, '17

Research Interests: Spatial modeling of vector-borne diseases
Funding: NSF EEID REU 2016

Katie Walker, UF '18
Geography
Research Interests: GIS data exploration as part of research projects for vectorborne disease research in southern Ecuador

Tyler G. James, BS, 2016
Psychology, Geography minor, UF '16
Research interests: I am interested in both provider-based and patient-perceived HIV-related stigma as a barrier to health service utilization.
Funding: UF University Scholars 2015
Personal Website

Rachel Brubaker, BS, SUNY-ESF '15
PROJECT: Research assistant for the Cacao Project
As a conservation biology student my academic interests include wildlife reserve management, habitat restoration, and behavioral ecology. POSTER, Spring 2014

Logan Osterhoudt, BS, SUNY-ESF '14
PROJECT: Research assistant for the Amphibian Ranavirus Project
Conducting lab procedures preparing samples for genetic analyses; conducting fieldwork on vernal pool monitoring

Katie Luukkonen, SUNY-ESF '13
PROJECT: Synthesizing published studies of parasites of cottontail rabbits in the continental US, to establish lab ID protocols, optimal fecal sample preparation and parasite recovery (2013)

Heather Holmes, SUNY-ESF '13
PROJECTS: Phlebotomy based research in conjunction with Dengue vaccine trials at Upstate Medical University (2013); Investigating the potential for horticultural therapy in Syracuse - community gardens, urban food growing, access and obstacles in Syracuse, NY (2012).

Dennis Chan, SUNY-ESF Honors Program, '12
PROJECT: Investigating ecological correlates in colobine monkey evolution (2012)

Tom Ryan, SUNY-ESF '15
PROJECT: Collecting and collating data for phylogenetic construction; learning phylogenetic programming methods (2012)

OTHERS
Mike Jones, SUNY-ESF 2013-2015
Mike worked with the Ryan Lab on a McIntire-Stennis funded project to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of an emerging invasion of Emerald Ash Borer in NY. He continues work in the Fierke Lab at SUNY ESF in a PhD project investigating multiple invasive insects.

Justin McMullen, SUNY-ESF '13,
Research Aide, PECAR Project, 2012-2013

Silvia Saldivar, SUNY-ESF MS, '14
Research Aide, PECAR Project, 2012-2013

Peter Mumford, Cornell University '12, Volunteer, 2012