Our Partners

Beginning in August 2021, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) collaborated with Syracuse University to scale wastewater surveillance across the entire State, maintaining existing partnerships between academic laboratories, wastewater treatment plants, and their local health departments.

The Network operates with multiple partners, including local health departments and wastewater treatment plants, where operators voluntarily provide samples to Network-affiliated laboratories, including NYSDOH Wadsworth Center and Stony Brook University. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene analyzes their samples and shares their wastewater data with the Network.

NYSDOH Wadsworth Center also leads the genetic sequencing laboratory consortium with four academic laboratories: New York Medical Center, SUNY Upstate, University at Buffalo SUNY, and the University of Rochester.

Our Team

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

  • David Larsen, PhD, MPH

    LEAD EPIDEMIOLOGIST & PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

  • Mila Neyra, MPH

    PROGRAM DIRECTOR

  • Nicole Pulido, MPH

    RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

  • Joe Moran, MSc

    RESEARCH ASSOCIATE - EPIDEMIOLOGIST

  • Christopher Dunham, MS

    DATA SCIENTIST

  • Dustin Hill, PhD

    EPIDEMIOLOGIST & POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

  • Edem Fiatsonu, PhD

    POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

  • Brittany Kmush, PhD

    EPIDEMIOLOGIST

  • Yasir Ahmed-Braimah, PhD

    BIOINFORMATICIAN

  • Teng Zeng, PhD

    ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER

  • Bhavneet Walia, PhD

    APPLIED HEALTH AND LABOR ECONOMETRICIAN

  • Bernard Appiah, DrPH

    RESEARCH PROGRAM DIRECTOR, H-COPE

  • Chinyere Ifeanacho

    GRADUATE STUDENT

  • Ozi Nwabor

    GRADUATE STUDENT

  • Jordan McGuire

    UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

  • Roma Agarwal

    UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

  • Ella CiCola

    UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

  • Benedicta Owusu

    UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT

NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (NYSDOH)

  • Daniel Lang, PG

    DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

  • Sylvia Byun, PhD, MPH

    DEPUTY DIRECTOR, QI PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

  • Kathleen Bush, PhD

    DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC OPERATIONS, CEH

  • Haley R. Kappus-Kron, MPH

    PROGRAM RESEARCH SPECIALIST III

  • Shaz Damani, MPH

    PROGRAM RESEARCH SPECIALIST III

  • Paul Dougall, MA, MS

    PROGRAM RESEARCH SPECIALIST II

  • Samantha Long, MS

    EVALUATION SPECIALIST I

  • Alex Espinoza, MPH

    EPIDEMIOLOGIST (CDC Foundation)

  • Dana Neigel, MPH

    EPIDEMIOLOGIST (CDC Foundation)

  • Shailla Raymond, MPH

    EPIDEMIOLOGIST (CDC Foundation)

  • Cherina Cheng

    PUBLIC HEALTH FELLOW II

  • Gena Gallinger, MS

    DIRECTOR, CEH OUTREACH AND EDUCATION GROUP

  • Stephanie Facchine

    HEALTH EDUCATION MEDIA SPECIALIST III

  • Akhila Thota

WADSWORTH CENTER (NYSDOH)

  • Leonard F. Peruski, PhD, MSc

    DIRECTOR, WADSWORTH CENTER

  • James Chithalen, PhD

    DEPUTY DIRECTOR, WADSWORTH CENTER

  • Kirsten St. George, PhD

    CHIEF, VIRAL DISEASES; DIRECTOR, VIROLOGY LABORATORY

  • Kimberlee A. Musser, PhD

    CLINICAL DIRECTOR, BACTERIOLOGY LABORATORY

  • Sudha Chaturvedi, PhD

    DIRECTOR, MYCOLOGY LABORATORY

  • Kathleen A. McDonough, PhD

    DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE

  • Christina Egan, PhD

    DEPUTY DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE

  • Siân Owen, PhD

    BACTERIOPHAGES & MOBILE GENETIC ELEMENTS

  • Kara Mitchell, PhD

    DIRECTOR, BACTERIAL REFERENCE AND SPECIAL PROJECTS

  • Daryl M. Lamson, MT (ASCP)

    ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, VIROLOGY

  • Patrick Bryant, PhD

    DIRECTOR, VACCINE PREVENTABLE DISEASES

  • Jennifer Laplante

    DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, LABORATORY OF VIRAL DISEASES; TEAM LEAD, INFLUENZA SEQUENCING AND ANTIVIRAL RESISTANCE

  • Lindsey Rickerman, MS

    RESEARCH SCIENTIST II, BIOINFORMATICS

  • Monica Foote, PhD

    DIRECTOR, WASTEWATER PROCESSING LABORATORY

  • Jonathan Plitnick, MA

    LABORATORY MANAGER, WASTEWATER PROCESSING LABORATORY

  • Aishwarya Jadhav, MS

    RESEARCH SCIENTIST

  • Latavia Hill, PhD

    RESEARCH SCIENTIST

  • Sonali Biswas, MS

    RESEARCH SCIENTIST

STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY

  • Christopher J. Gobler, PhD

    PROFESSOR

  • Mian Wang, PhD

    POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

  • Ruth Drinkwater

  • Max Fishlow

SUNY COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & FORESTRY (ESF)

  • Hyatt Green, PhD

    ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGIST

NEW YORK MEDICAL COLLEGE

  • Ravi Sachidanandam, PhD

    DIRECTOR, GENOMICS CORE LAB

  • Salomon Amar, DDS, PhD

  • Deepali Lehri, Phd

    POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW

SUNY UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO

  • Donald A. Yergeau, PhD

    ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF GENOMIC TECHNOLOGIES

  • Jennifer A. Surtees, PhD

    CO-DIRECTOR OF UB’S GENOME, ENVIRONMENTAL AND MICROBIOME COMMUNITY OF EXCELLENCE

  • Alyssa Pohlman

    RESEARCH TECHNICIAN

SUNY UPSTATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

  • Frank Middleton, PhD

    SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR OF SUNY MOLECULAR ANALYSIS CORE

  • Karen Gentile, MS

    TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR OF SUNY MOLECULAR ANALYSIS CORE

  • Rafael Schulman

    MD/PhD CANDIDATE

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

  • Dwight J. Hardy, PhD

    DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY

  • Andrew Cameron, PhD

    ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

  • Timothy Stoklosa