congratulations to the 2019-2020 G.E.R.M. Awardees
Medical students from around the U.S. submitted their applications to receive a $4,000 stipend for their ID/HIV research projects and receive mentorship through the IDSA Foundation’s G.E.R.M. program. Each of the 61 awardees brings a unique perspective and skill to the field of ID research.
meet the awardees
Afia Adu-Gyamfi
Mentor: Keith Hamilton, MD
Institution: Medical College of Wisconsin
Project: Impact of Removal of Automatic Seven-Day Stop Orders for Inpatient Antimicrobials
Morgan Birabaharan
Mentor: Stefann Haggman, MD, MSc, FAAP, FIDSA, FISTM
Institution: Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Project: Understanding Typhoid Vaccine Hesitancy Among South Asian Immigrant Families and Learning about Metropolitan Disease Control Challenges |
Lily Bonadonna
Mentor: Jennifer Veltman, MD
Institution: Wayne State University School of Medicine
Prjoject: HIV Homecare: Understanding its Impact
Stephanie Cabral
Mentor: Anthony Harris, MD, MPH
Institution: University of Maryland School of Medicine
Project: Comorbidity and Severity of Illness Risk Adjustment for Clostridiodes difficile
Giorgio Caturegli
Mentor: Christopher Hoffmann, MD, MPH
Institution: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Project: Home Link at Tshepong Hospital, South Africa
Spencer Chang
Mentor: Vance G. Fowler, Jr. MD, MHS, FIDSA
Institution: Duke University School of Medicine
Project: The role of agr in the host immune response to Staphylococcus aureus biofilms
Paulina Coutifaris
Mentor: William R. Short, MD, MPH
Institution: Perelman School of Medicine
Project: Knowledge and practice of breastfeeding among HIV positive mothers
Rebecca Crowther
Mentor: George S. Deepe, Jr., MD
Institution: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine/Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
Project: The Role of L-Arginine Synthesis in the CD4+ T cell Response to Pulmonary
Hannah Cunningham
Mentor: David Wohl, MD
Institution: Duke University School of Medicine
Project: Seroprevalence of Ebola Virus among Sexual Partners of Survivors of Ebola Virus
Afkera Daniel
Mentor: Alison C. Roxby, MD, MSc
Institution: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Project: Understanding Unprotected Sex Among Adolescent Girls in Kenya: Epidemiologic
Danielle Davis
Mentor: Heather Young, MD
Institution: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Project: Frequent door openings during surgery and surgical site infections
Xiaomeng Deng
Mentor: Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD, MPH
Institution: David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Project: Molecular Assay to Predict Cefixime Susceptibility of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae
Kylie Disch
Mentor: Walter Dehority, MD, MSc
Institution: University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Project: Genome sequencing of colonized S. aureus in non-infected pediatric patients
Emily Evans
Mentor: Russell Kempker, MD, MSc
Institution: Emory University
Project: Predictors of poor outcomes amongst patients with tuberculous meningitis: the impact of drug-resistance.
Amanda Farrell
Mentor: Gregory C. Gray, MD, MPH, FIDSA
Institution: Duke University School of Medicine
Project: Assessing the prevalence of Influenza D virus in swine environments and among swine workers in Northern Vietnam
Erin Felton
Mentor: Andrea Hahn MD, MS
Institution: The George Washington University
Project: Subtherapeutic Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Exposure Leads to Pathogen Dominance in the Cystic Fibrosis Airway
Ephrat Fisseha
Mentor: Lisa Abuogi, MD, MSc
Institution: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Project: The effect of HIV seroconcordant and serodiscordant relationships on prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) outcomes and male support in HIV positive pregnant women in Kisumu, Kenya
Joseph Friedman
Mentor: Jeffrey D. Klausner, MD, MPH
Institution: UCLA
Project: The Role of Fentanyl in HIV Seroconversion among PWID in Tijuana, Mexico
Gabriella Go
Mentor: Karen J. Vigil, MD
Institution: UT Health Science Center at Houston
Project: AIDS and Race as Predictors of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Clearance in HIV/HBV Coinfected Patients
Kenneth Gunasekera
Mentor: Ted Cohen, MD, MPH, DPH
Institution: Yale University School of Medicine
Project: Comparing diagnostic yield of tests in the clinical evaluation of children for tuberculosis in a high TB/HIV co-burden setting
J.T. Henderson
Mentor: Alice Thornton, MD
Institution: University of Kentucky College of Medicine
Project: Serious Infections Associated with Injection Drug Use
Fernando Ibanhes
Mentor: Philip A. Chan, MD, MS
Institution: Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Project: Implementation and impact of a novel model for sexually transmitted infections testing at a publicly funded sexual health clinic in New York City
Jennifer Jenks
Mentor: Sallie R. Permar, MD, PhD
Institution: Duke University School of Medicine
Project: Immune correlates of protection against congenital cytomegalovirus transmission in an HIV+ mother/infant cohort
Hansol Kang
Mentor: Susan E. Coffin, MD, MPH
Institution: University of Florida College of Medicine
Project: Epidemiology of norovirus outbreaks in long-term care facilities in Philadelphia
Mattie Kerns
Mentor: Jessica Cataldi, MD, MSCS
Institution: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Project: Identifying characteristics and motivations of pro-vaccine parents
Leah Loerinc
Mentor: Andres F. Camacho-Gonzalez, MD, MSc
Institution: Emory University
Project: Sexually Transmitted Infections among HIV Infected Youth in Atlanta, GA
Alexandra Lombardo
Mentor: Christopher Hoffmann, MD, MPH
Institution: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Project: Mortality Analysis of HIV Patients at Tshepong Hospital
Jez Marston
Mentor: Douglas F. Nixon, MD, PhD
Institution: Weill Cornell Medical College
Project: HIV-induced Anti-cancer Immunity in Prostate Cancer
Matthew Matson
Mentor: Daniel S. Chertow, MD, MPH, FCCP
Institution: Marshall University and NIH/NIAID
Project: Host response in human Ebola virus disease
Christopher Mayer
Mentor: Roberto P. Santos, MD, MSCS, FAAP, AAHIVS
Institution: Albany Medical College
Project: Mental Health and PrEP Adherence and Retention Among Adolescents
Angela McGaugh
Mentor: Maria L. Alcaide, MD
Institution: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Project: Bio-behavioral Correlates of Rectal Inflammation, Implications for HIV Acquisition
Emily Moore
Mentor: April C. Pettit, MD, MPH
Institution: Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Project: Healthcare Provider Attitudes and Knowledge Around Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for the Prevention of HIV-Infection in Tennessee
Yoelkys Morales
Mentor: Alysse G. Wurcel, MD, MS
Institution: Tufts University School of Medicine
Project: Screening and Treatment Priorities for Hospitalized Patients
Brendan Mullen
Mentor: Claudia Hawkins, MD, MPH
Institution: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Project: Evaluating the effects of antivirals on changes in renal function in HIV, HIV/HBV and HBV-infected Tanzanians
Meghna Nagam
Mentor: Mark S. Dworkin, MD, MPHTM
Institution: University of Illinois at Chicago
Project: Police Intervention and ART In Female Sex Workers in India
April Nguyen
Mentor: Cesar A. Arias, MD, MSc, PhD, FIDSA
Institution: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Project: Role of Cardiolipin Synthase in Enterococcus Faecalis Daptomycin Resistance
Simon Nin Zhu
Mentor: Luis A. Marcos, MD, MPH, FIDSA
Institution: Stony Brook University
Project: Evaluating the efficacy of smartphone-assisted point-of-care diagnosis by training community health volunteers in soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) identification in the Peruvian rainforest while comparing urban and rural
Naomi Nkinsi
Mentor: Paul K. Drain, MD, MPH, FACP
Institution: University of Washington School of Medicine – Seattle
Project: The Effect of Food Insecurity on ART initiation and HIV Outcomes among newly diagnosed adults in an urban township of South Africa
Clayton Otter
Mentor: Rahul M. Kohli, MD, PhD
Institution: Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Project: Targeting the Bacterial SOS Response to Prevent Acquired Antibiotic Resistance
Oleksandra Pashchenko
Mentor: Frederick L. Altice, MD, MA
Institution: Giesel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Project: Integrating opioid agonist therapy and primary care in Ukraine: a randomized controlled trial to evaluate impacts on health outcomes for HIV positive people who inject drugs
Kayla Paulosky
Mentor: Matthew B. Laurens, MD, MPH
Institution: University of Maryland School of Medicine
Project: Evaluation of Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry for malaria diagnosis- a promising noninvasive tool for malaria elimination campaigns
Nicholas Peterson
Mentor: Read Pukkila-Worley, MD, FIDSA
Institution: University of Massachusetts Medical School
Project: Nuclear hormone receptor control of intestinal innate immune response
Mai-Tram Riquier
Mentor: Irving Hoffman, PA, MPH
Institution: University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Project: HPTN 074 Systems navigation and psychosocial counseling (SNaP) study
Rebecca Rubinstein
Mentor: Jessica Lin, MD
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Project: Capillary versus venous gametocyte density in asymptomatic malaria
Christopher Ruggiero
Mentor: Divya Ahuja, MD, MRCP
Institution: University of South Carolina School of Medicine- Columbia
Project: Identifying Impact of Health Determinants on Effectiveness of South Carolina (SC) HIV Clinic’s Rapid Engagement Model
John Ryan
Mentor: Stephen Jordan, MD, PhD
Institution: Indiana University School of Medicine
Project: Metabolic pathways associated with natural clearance of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women
Bethany Sederdahl
Mentor: John V. Williams, MD
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Project: Influenza C in Children with Acute Respiratory Infection
Gabriel Spieler
Mentor: Edgar Turner Overton, MD
Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Project: HIV and Diabetes in the Era of Antiretroviral Therapy
Sarah Stuccio
Mentor: Lisa A. Spacek, MD, PhD, FIDSA,
Institution: Sindey Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
Project: Prevalence of asymptomatic gonorrhea and chlamydia infections among Ryan White HIV population visiting a Center City Philadelphia HIV clinic
Lucy Studemeister
Mentor: Upinder Singh, MD
Institution: Ponce Health Sciences University
Project: Identification of compounds active against pathogenic amebae
Anne Sung
Mentor: Joseph D. Tucker, MD, PhD
Institution: University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Project: Community Engagement, Community Connectedness, and Social Cohesion Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in China Participating in Pay-It-Forward Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Testing: A Secondary Analysis
Matthew Szaniawski
Mentor: Adam M. Spivak, MD
Institution: University of Utah
Project: Targeting chronic inflammation in HIV-1 through tyrosine kinase inhibition
Corinne Thornton
Mentor: Susan C. Bleasdale, MD, FACP
Institution: University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago
Project: Investigation of Risk Factors for Congenital Syphilis and Syphilis Infection Among Pregnant Women at an Urban Chicago Hospital
Kristina Tymes-Wilbekin
Mentor: Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, MPH
Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Project: Understanding Reproductive Health Knowledge and Perceptions of Multipurpose Prevention Technologies Among Adolescent African American Females
Frances Vernon
Mentor: Jose R. Castillo-Mancilla, MD
Institution: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Project: Social and Demographic Determinants of Antiretroviral Drug Adherence and Exposure
Caroline Wang
Mentor: Bettina Fries, MD, FIDSA
Institution: Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
Project: MAb therapy for disrupting hypervirulent K. pneumoniae biofilms
Julian Weiss
Mentor: Serena Spudich, MD
Institution: Yale University School of Medicine
Project: PET Imaging to Measure Synaptic Density and its Association with Neurocognitive Impairment in People Living with HIV on Antiretroviral Therapy
Thomas Weppelmann
Mentor: Anthony P. Cannella, MD, MSc, FACP
Institution: Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Project: Researching the antimicrobial activity of chitosan microparticles against Vibrio cholerae for the purpose of developing a luminal agent for the treatment and prevention of cholera
Gideon Wolf
Mentor: Nevil J. Singh, PhD
Institution: University of Maryland School of Medicine
Project: Towards an HIV cure by eliminating memory T cells harboring latent virus
Francis Wright
Mentor: Alexander Marson, MD, MPH
Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Project: Modeling Genes Involved in Immunodeficiency Using CRISPR-Cas9
Albert Zhou
Mentor: Mark Travassos, MD, MSc
Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore
Project: The role of RIFINs and their interaction with blood type in vulnerability to severe malaria in Malian children