Faculty & Staff

Department of Epidemiology faculty, staff and their research interest:

Faculty

 Evi Farazi, PhD - Tim Hawks Chair in Cancer Prevention and Population Science, Associate Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Cancer Prevention | Genetic & Environmental Factors in Cancer Development

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Joseph R. Fauver, PhD - Assistant Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Pathogen Genomics & Bioinformatics | Genomic Epidemiology | SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Dynamics | Genomics of Infectious Disease Control Programs | Mosquito-borne Pathogens

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Keith Hansen, MBA - Co-Director of the Center for Preparedness Education, Co-Director of the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals, Instructor

Interest & Focus Areas: Preparedness and Disaster Planning | Public Health & Healthcare Readiness | Crisis Leadership & Management | UNMC Incident Command

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Ishrat Kamal-Ahmed, PhD - Instructor

Interest & Focus Areas: Antimicrobial Resistant Organisms and Emerging Trends | Social Determinants of Health in Healthcare Epidemiology | Vaccinations, Implementations and Breakthroughs | Surveillance Mechanisms in Infectious Diseases | Role of Social Media in Public Health

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Ali S. Khan, MD, MPH, MBA - Dean of the College of Public Health

Interest & Focus Areas: Pandemic Preparedness | Emerging Infectious Diseases | Bio-terrorism | Global Health Security

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Nicole Kolm-Valdivia, PhD, MPH - Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and  Assistant Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Intersection of Infectious Disease and Substance Use | Harm Reduction | Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting | Health Equity | Program Evaluation

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Deborah Levy, PhD, MPH - Professor, Co-Director for the Center of Biosecurity, Biopreparedness, & Emerging Infectious Diseases

Interest & Focus Areas: Preparedness & Disaster Planning | Public Health & Healthcare Readiness | Emerging Infectious Diseases

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Rachel Lookadoo, JD - Assistant Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Public Health Law | Disaster Preparedness | Isolation & Quarantine Measures | Climate, Extreme Weather, and Climate Change

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David Brett-Major, MD MPH - Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Infectious Diseases | Health Emergency Risk Management | Internal Medicine | Medical Research | Tropical Medicine & Public Health

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Patrick Maloney, PhD MPH - Assistant Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Global Health, Humanitarian Health, Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Health Disparities

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Sharon Medcalf, PhD - Associate Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Disaster and Emergency Preparedness | Public Health & Healthcare Readiness

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Abraham D Mengist, PhD - Assistant Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Epidemiology of Malaria and Helminth | Diagnosis of Malaria and Helminth | Antimalarial and Antihelminthic Drug Efficacy | HPV Vaccination & Cervical Cancer Prevention | HIV Disease Progression

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Edward S. Peters, DMD, SM, SM, ScD, FACE - Professor and Chair

Interest & Focus Areas: Cancer Research | Social Determinants of Disease Outcomes | Environmental Impact on Chronic Disease | Situational Health Disparities

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Kendra L. Ratnapradipa, PhD - Assistant Professor

Interest & Focus Areas: Geospatial Influences on Health Disparities | Transportation as a Social Determinant Impacting the Cancer Care Continuum


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Leslie Scofield, MPH - Director of First Responder Education, Instructor

Interest & Focus Areas: Mass Casualty Incidents | Public Health & Healthcare Readiness | Crisis Leadership


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Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, PhD - Professor, Associate Director for Buffett Cancer Center Community Outreach & Engagement, and Research Director of Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska

Interest & Focus Areas: Rural Cancer Care Access | Pediatric Cancer | Colorectal Cancer Screening | Financial Toxicity | Social Isolation | Behavioral Workforce Research

Contact

Staff

Chelsea Cowher, BS - Financial Administrator I for the Department of Epidemiology


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Kristin "Kris" Eschliman - Office Associate II for the Department of Epidemiology


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Sierra Garth, MPH - Research Project Coordinator

Interest & Focus Areas: Social Epidemiology | Chronic and Infectious Disease Epidemiology | Emergency Preparedness | Health Disparities

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EPI / DHHS Staff

Alexis "Lexi" Bertacini McClung, MPH - DHHS NE Drug Overdose Surveillance Epidemiologist

Interest & Focus Areas: Infectious Disease Epidemiology | Drug Overdose Surveillance | Hepatitis C and STI Prevention

Contact

Yi Du, PhD, MSPH, MS - DHHS NE Hospitalization Epidemiologist

Interest & Focus Areas: Surveillance Of Infectious Diseases  | Data Warehouse | COVID-19 Surveillance | Injury Surveillance | Cross-Sectional Study | Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

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Sai Paritala, MPH, Pharm D. - DHHS NE COVID-19 Epidemiologist

Interest & Focus Areas: Infectious Disease Predictive Analysis | Applying Principles for Actionable Information | COVID-19 Data Surveillance | Longitudinal Data Analysis 

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Zijian "Egg" Qin, PhD, MPH, MBBS - DHHS NE Injury Surveillance Epidemiologist

Interest & Focus Areas: Injury Epidemiology | Environmental Health | Occupational Health and Safety | Child Health

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Affiliated Faculty

Adjunct Faculty

  • Carol Allensworth, PhD, Douglas County Health Department, Omaha NE
  • Gary Anthone, MD
  • Rana J Asghar, PhD
  • Bryan Buss, PhD, Public Health Veterinarian, Department of Health and Human Services, Lincoln NE
  • Theodore Cieslak, MPH
  • Rashid Chotani, Senior Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
  • Matthew Donahue, MD, State Epidemiologist - Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services
  • Justin Frederick, MPH, Douglas County Health Department
  • Macarena Garcia, DrPH, MPS, MIS, Senior Health Scientist - Epidemiologist at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Jill Hanson, MD
  • Jennie L. Hill, PhD 
  • Karen Jones, MD
  • Madhav KC, PhD, MPH, Statistician Yale School of Medicine
  • Lara Lamprecht, DrPH, U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services, Office Of The Assistant Secretary For Preparedness And Response (ASPR), Washington, DC, Branch Chief, Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) 
  • Tricia D. LeVan, PhD
  • Paul Levine, MD
  • Dana P. Loomis, PhD
  • Veenu Minhas, PhD, MPH, Research Scientist at Charles River Laboratories, Lima, OH
  • Anne O'Keefe, MD, MPH, Senior Epidemiologist, Douglas County Health Department, Omaha NE
  • Caitlyn Pedati, MD, State of Iowa Epidemiologist and Medical Director for the State Public Health Department
  • Ariane Rung, PhD, MPH, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans
  • Thomas Safranek, MD, Retired State Epidemiologist, Department of Health and Human Services, Lincoln NE
  • Sudhir Satpathy, MD
  • Bettina Schneider, MPH, PHI/CDC Global Health Epidemiology Fellow CDC South Africa
  • Jordan W Tappero, PhD, Senior Advisor for Global Health, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  • J. Todd Weber, MD, FACP, FIDSA, Captain (Retired), US Public Health Service

Courtesy Faculty

Emeritus Faculty

Contact

Department of Epidemiology
College of Public Health
Department of Epidemiology
984395 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-4395
Phone: 402-559-4248