The mission of the SER-Student & Post-Doc Committee (SER-SPC) is to facilitate the educational experiences and professional development of students in epidemiology-related disciplines by providing information, resources, and networking opportunities; facilitating student exchange of research ideas; and providing service to the SER and advancing and promoting the SER-SPC.
Dana Pasquale
President
Dana recently completed her doctorate in infectious disease epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is now a postdoctoral fellow in the Duke University Department of Sociology where she is studying social networks and health. Dana’s main research focus is understanding where to intervene in sexual networks to prevent HIV and syphilis transmission. Most of her work is within the domain of applied epidemiology and uses methods which are not traditional in epidemiology. She has an MPH in health behavior and a BA in anthropology.
Contact
Duke University
Department of Sociology
dkp20@duke.edu
Catherine Lerro
President-Elect
Catherine is an epidemiologist studying occupational and environmental exposures and cancer risk. She is currently a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute, where her research evaluates the effects of pesticides and persistent chemical exposures on cancer risk and relevant biomarker endpoints. She received her PhD in environmental epidemiology and her MPH in Chronic Disease Epidemiology from the Yale School of Public Health. She earned her BA in Public Health Studies from the Johns Hopkins University, and previously worked at the American Cancer Society.
Contact
National Cancer Institute
Division of Cancer Epidemiology
and Genetics
catherine.lerro@nih.gov
Yeyi Zhu
Past-President
Yeyi Zhu is an Epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. She obtained her postdoctoral training on nutritional and environmental epidemiology at Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Her research has been focusing on the impact of intrauterine environment on women’s and children’s cardiometabolic health using a life course approach. She earned her BS in Biological Sciences from Fudan University in Shanghai, China and her MS in Statistics and PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology from The University of Texas at Austin.
Contact
Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Division of Research
yeyi.zhu@kp.org
Julie Petersen
Education Co-Chair
Julie is a PhD candidate in Epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health. She is interested in how the application of novel analytic methods may aid in gaining new insights in the study of pregnancy and early human development, including the etiology of birth defects. She also has a passion for teaching. Julie has an MPH with dual concentrations in epidemiology and biostatistics and a BA in psychology with minors in applied statistics and music, both from Boston University.
Contact
Kendra Sims
Education Co-Chair
Kendra Sims is a current PhD candidate in Epidemiology at Oregon State University. Previously, she earned her MPH at Boston University School of Public Health. Broadly, her research concerns how interrelated societal stressors contribute to disproportionately poor cardiovascular health. For her dissertation on perceived discrimination’s association with adverse blood pressure outcomes, she is applying machine learning methodologies to optimize model fit and instrumental variable selection.
Contact
Oregon State University
College of Health and Human Sciences
simske@oregonstate.edu
Rebecca Barry
Internal Affairs Chair
Rebecca is a PhD candidate in Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on rurality, access to care, suicide, and suicide attempts. She previously completed an MSc in Epidemiology at Queen’s University.
Contact
University of Toronto
Rebecca.Barry@mail.utoronto.ca
Robert Orellana
Media Chair
Robert Orellana, PhD, MPH is a recent graduate from The Ohio State University College of Public Health. He has also received a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. In his dissertation, Robert investigated the epidemiology of Clostridioides difficile within the healthcare setting. His research interests include healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance. Robert’s postdoctoral work focuses on infectious diseases in marginalized populations. Robert has previously worked in clinical epidemiology, infectious disease surveillance, and clinical trials.
Contact
The Ohio State University
orellana.4@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Paige Wartko
Program Co-Chair
Paige Wartko is a PhD candidate in epidemiology at the University of Washington, where she previously earned an MPH. Prior to that, she completed her BS in Public Health Sciences at Clemson University. Her research interests include perinatal epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, diabetes, and women’s health. For her dissertation, she is collaborating with Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute to investigate the association between antidepressant use in pregnancy and maternal gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, and infant birthweight.
Contact
University of Washington
pwartko@uw.edu
Precious Esie
Program Co-Chair
Precious Esie is an Epidemiology PhD student at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and will be a pre-doctoral fellow in the Psychiatric Epidemiology Training program beginning Fall 2019. Broadly speaking, she is interested in studying mechanisms through which social structures influence mental health outcomes. Her current work focuses on disentangling the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and depression in IPV-endemic settings. Prior to Mailman, she earned her MPH in Epidemiology from Emory University and her BS in Mathematics from Loyola University New Orleans.
Contact
Columbia University
Mailman School of Public Health
pie2104@cumc.columbia.edu
Alvin Thomas
Diversity and Inclusion Representative
Alvin (he/his/him) is a predoctoral fellow in cardiovascular epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill. Alvin investigates chronic disease in older adults, with a focus on identifying interventions for dementia prevention and treatment. He is also involved in the development of digital health solutions for kidney and liver disease patients. He received his BS in Chemical Engineering from Washington and Lee University and his MSPH in International Health from the Johns Hopkins University. He feels “among his people” as a SER member, and hopes to make sure that everyone else does, too!
Contact
Gilings School of Global Public Health
UNC Chapel Hill
alvin@unc.edu
alvingthomas.com