Professor
University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry
I have specialized in linking pediatric laboratory and clinical research from the time of my training to the present. My research has focused on respiratory infection and gastroenteritis epidemiology and microbiology. I was intimately involved with the design and performance of the original CDC-funded New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN) since its inception in 1999, first as Co-Principal Investigator (1999-2014) and now Principal Investigator (2015-) at our site. I have authored/coauthored >70 publications detailing NVSN findings. My special interests in the NVSN have been coordinating laboratory-based analyses of diagnostic techniques (viral culture vs. PCR, TAC arrayed rtPCR); assessing the comparability of various PCR diagnostic platforms; analyzing parainfluenza, RSV, influenza, rotavirus, and norovirus disease burdens; and monitoring vaccine effectiveness for influenza and rotavirus vaccines.
In addition, I have provided pediatric infectious diseases/pediatric HIV medicine research and clinical services since 1989, both at Indiana Univ. and since 1995, at the Univ. of Rochester. Funding for our UR Pediatric HIV Program was competitively renewed from NICHD (G.A. Weinberg, PI) for activities in the NICHD Pediatric/Perinatal Clinical Trials Center (PACTG & IMPAACT) from 1997 through 2012, at which time when we closed due to successful interruption of pediatric HIV transmission in our area. I continue to serve on both NY State and Federal HIV/AIDS-related Clinical Guidelines Panels. I also serve as the Director of Clinical Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Pediatric HIV Program at my institution. As Director of the Finger Lakes Regional Referral Centers for the NY State Newborn Screening Program, SCID, HIV, and CMV Diagnostics, I provide both informational services and definitive diagnostic and clinical care of newborns whose screening tests are positive for SCID, HIV, or CMV. I also serve the NYS AIDS Institute as pediatric syphilis specialist in the Congenital Syphilis Prevention Program.