There are still no licensed, broadly protective vaccines against two of the most important flaviviruses, dengue viruses 1 to 4 (DENV1-4) and Zika virus (ZIKV). The only licensed dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, was introduced as part of a mass-vaccination campaign of ~800,000 children in the Philippines before it was shown that the vaccine increases risk of severe dengue in some children. In the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit, we use a multidisciplinary approach encompassing virology, immunology, and epidemiology to investigate protection against and susceptibility to emerging viruses to inform safe and effective deployments of vaccines. Our lab’s primary expertise is in seroepidemiology. We develop and apply immunological assays to measure biological determinants of disease outcomes in humans and analyze these data using statistical, computational, and epidemiological methods to address the following themes.
- Antigenic and genetic viral evolution
- Host immunological determinants of long-term protection and disease risk
- Dynamics of viral transmission at the population level to inform disease prevention efforts
Our research focuses on the determinants of virus-specific immunity and the induction of the broadly cross-reactive immunity to DENV, which we believe serves as a model pathogen for other complex, immune-evasive viruses. Our work directly informs public health and preventative measures, including development of better next generation vaccines, design of interventions to increase the longevity of vaccine-induced immunity, and monitoring of how vaccines affect and are affected by viral evolution and transmission.

Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit, 2022. Clockwise from back left: Rosie Aogo, Guillermo Raimundi Rodriguez, Camila Odio, Charlie Voirin, Patrick Mpingabo, Saba Firdous, Chloe Hasund, Kelsey Lowman, Leah Katzelnick.
Leah C. Katzelnick, Ph.D., MPH (She/Her/Hers)
Chief, Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit
Education:
Ph.D., 2016, University of Cambridge
Dr. Leah Katzelnick pursued a Ph.D. studying antigenic variation among dengue viruses at the University of Cambridge and the National Institutes of Health as an NIH OxCam Scholar and Gates Cambridge Scholar. After receiving her Ph.D. in 2016, she conducted her postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley and University of Florida on determinants of dengue and Zika disease, spending a year in Ecuador and Nicaragua to work closely with research teams conducting longitudinal cohort studies. In September of 2020, Leah became an Earl Stadtman tenure-track investigator and NIH Distinguished Scholar in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases in NIAID. She is Chief of the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit.

Rosie Aogo, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Mathematical Biology, University of New South Wales, Australia
MSc, Biomathematics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
MSc, Mathematical Sciences, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, South Africa
BSc, Maseno University, Kenya
Languages Spoken: Kiswahili

Saba Firdous, M.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Laboratory Researcher
Education:
M.S., Biomedical Science, Hood College, Maryland
M.B.B.S., NTR University, India
Languages Spoken: Hindi, Urdu

Chloe M. Hasund, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow
Education:
B.S., Global and Public Health Sciences, Cornell University

Melissa Law, B.S.N. (She/Her/Hers)
Registered Nurse; Protocol Nurse Coordinator
Education:
B.S.N., University of Maryland, School of Nursing

Kelsey Lowman, M.S. (She/Her/Hers)
Ph.D. Student, NIH Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program
Education:
M.S., Biological Sciences, University of Alabama
B.S., Microbiology, University of Alabama

Patrick Mpingabo, M.D., Ph.D. (He/Him/His)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Medical Sciences/ Virology, Nagasaki University, Japan
M.D., University of Kinshasa Congo, DRC
Languages Spoken: French, Japanese
Camila D. Odio, M.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases
Education:
Internal Medicine Residency, Yale University
M.D., Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
BA, Kenyon College
Languages Spoken: Spanish
Camila completed her clinical rotations in infectious diseases through NIAID’s fellowship program including training at Johns Hopkins, George Washington University Hospital, Medstar Georgetown, and the NIH’s Clinical Center.

Guillermo L. Raimundi Rodriguez, B.S. (He/Him/His)
Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow
Education:
B.S., Industrial Microbiology, Universidad of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
Languages Spoken: Spanish
Charlie Voirin, B.A. (He/Him/His)
Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow
Education:
B.A., Biology, Kenyon College
Charlie is a Postbaccalaureate Fellow in the Viral Epidemiology and Immunology Unit, LID, NIAID. He recently completed an undergraduate thesis in the molecular ecology of avian telomere dynamics, and his interest in disease ecology led him to the VEIU where he is excited to learn more about the virology, epidemiology, and immunology of dengue virus.

Former Research Group Members
• Fernando Echegaray, B.A. Medical Student at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
• Sandra Mayer, Ph.D., D.V.M., M.Sc. Research Scientist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR).
• Janet Ogeneitsega Joseph, B.Sc. PhD student at Brown University.
• Ana Coello Escoto, B.A. Scientist and Lab Manager at Astrazeneca.