Hourigan Research Group

Dr. Suchitra (Suchi) Hourigan was born in the UK and received her medical degree from the University of Oxford.  She is a board-certified physician in pediatrics and pediatric gastroenterology, having completed her pediatric residency and pediatric gastroenterology fellowship training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. Prior to coming to NIH, Dr. Hourigan held faculty positions at the...

Victor received his B.S. from Tufts University and his Ph.D. from Emory University, where he studied antibiotic resistance within bacterial subpopulations to last-line drugs. His current research interests include the metabolic responses of bacteria to antibiotics and the downstream immune response.

Keona received her B.S. in biology with a minor in chemistry from Howard University. Through her undergraduate courses, she became interested in maternal and infant health. Currently, she is investigating gut microbial structure and function in pregnant women and their offspring associated with adverse metabolic outcomes. After training at NIH, she would like to attend medical school to pursue an...

Qing received her B.S. in biology from Shandong University and her Ph.D. in cell biology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where she studied the interaction between mesenchymal stem cells and the immune system. She then completed postdoc training at NIEHS, investigating the role of poly(A)-tail length regulation in gene expression and cell fate in ESCs and germline stem cells. Her current...

Dr. Diana Jo received her medical degree from the Frank H. Netter School of Medicine. She is a board-certified pediatrician, having completed her pediatric residency at INOVA Children’s Hospital. She is currently a clinical fellow in pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at Children’s National Hospital. She is interested in nutrition and the microbiome in relation to pediatric...

Shira Levy earned her master’s degree from George Mason University in neuroimaging, in addition to holding a B.S. degree in neuroscience and behavior from Columbia University and a B.A. in midrash from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Shira has worked in clinical research for over ten years and currently manages clinical research trials in the Clinical Microbiome Unit. Her research interests...

Ranjani received her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, where she studied the evolution of apicomplexan parasites using next-generation sequencing and molecular biology techniques. She then did her postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at NIAID, investigating the role of the microbiota in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2 infections. Her work at the Clinical...

At California Polytechnic State University, Katherine studied human anatomy/physiology, as well as medical microbiology. She aims to research the intersection of the two fields, with an emphasis on women’s health and the vaginal microbiome. In the future, she will pursue an M.D./Ph.D.

Dr. Strength is a board-certified internal medicine physician, board-eligible pediatrician, and clinical fellow in adult and pediatric infectious diseases at NIH and Children’s National Hospital. Her research interests include the long-term effects of infections in pregnant women and their children. She is studying how the microbiome changes through different stages of pregnancy and how infections...

Garmani earned his B.S. in biology at the University of Maryland where he worked on developing single-cell FRET-based ribosensors. He is interested in the developing gut microbiome and its connection to childhood health and inflammatory diseases. After his training at the NIH, he hopes to pursue a career in academic medicine.