Epidemiologist

Department of Environmental, Agricultural & Occupational Health
College of Public Health
University of Nebraska Medical Center

Professional Summary

• 2023-present, Epidemiologist, Department of Environmental, Agricultural & Occupational Health
• 2021-2023, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Applied Epidemiology Fellowship, Division of Public Health, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
• 2021, Epidemiologist, Department of Epidemiology, Imperial County Public Health Department, California
• 2020-2021 Administrative Analyst, Department of Epidemiology, Imperial County Public Health Department, California
• 2008-2020, Registered Dental Hygienist, Private Practice

Education

• 2020, MPH, University of South Florida
• 2010, BS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Research Interests

Selected Publications

• Birn R, Hamik J, Dayne L, Frederick J, Bartling A, Iwen P, Wells A, Donahue M. (2024). Confirmed case of longstanding respiratory Francisella tularensis holarctica infection: Nebraska, 2022. Clinical infectious diseases, 78(Supplement_1), S64–S66. doi:10.1093/cid/ciad669
• Poonsuk K, Loy, Birn R, Buss B, Donahue M, Nordeen T, Sinclair K, Meduna L, Brodersen B, Loy JD. (2023) Detection of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in retropharyngeal lymph node exudates of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from Nebraska, USA. Wildlife Diseases, 59(4), 702–708. doi:10.7589/JWD-D-23-00005.
• Hamik J, Bourret TJ, Smith H, Herman M, Birn R, Dawdy T, Zuffante MJ; Donahue M. (2023) Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi infected Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) associated with local Lyme disease transmission in Nebraska, USA, 2021. Zoonoses and Public Health, 70(4): 361-364. doi:111/zph.13031
• McCall J, Rothfeldt L, Giesbrecht K., Hunt A, Bauck L, Scheftel J, Birn R, Buss B, Schroeder B, Haupt TE, Klos R, & Straily A. (2022). Public Health Surveillance and Reporting for Human Toxoplasmosis - Six States, 2021. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 71(28), 889–893. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7128a1

Professional Affiliations

• American Public Health Association
• Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
• National Environmental Health Association