Emily Ricotta PhD, MSc

Education

PhD, Epidemiology, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel, Switzerland. 2018.
MSc, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. 2012.
BS, Biology, Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA. 2009.

Biography

Dr. Emily Ricotta has over fifteen years of research experience in epidemiology and microbiology working with a variety of human infections including malaria, ebola virus disease, antimicrobial resistant pathogens, and SARS-CoV-2. Her work focuses on 1) understanding and improving data collection and management using non-randomized studies, and 2) conducting rigorous population-level infectious disease studies. Dr. Ricotta is passionate about harnessing data to understand the complexities of infectious disease epidemiology. She is committed to improving the ways we collect and analyze data for clinical research, and is involved in work advancing data standardization and management, study design, and AI/ML.

Outside of the lab, she participates in global public health program monitoring and evaluation, policy development, and scientific advocacy. Before joining the faculty at USU, Dr. Ricotta was chief of the Epidemiology and Data Management Unit and an Independent Research Scholar in the Division of Intramural Research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), U.S. National Institutes of Health. During her time at NIAID, Dr. Ricotta was Principal Investigator of multiple scientific protocols including the PERSIST study evaluating the immune response to COVID-19 vaccines in individuals with immune disorders.

Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployements, Awards and Additional Publications

2023, National Institutes of Health Inaugural Emerging Leaders Director's Award

2023, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Intramural Targeted Climate Change and Health Award

2022 - 2024, Chief, Epidemiology and Data Management Unit, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

2022, Selected for the National Institutes of Health Independent Research Scholars Program

2019, Selected for the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative Fellowship

Representative Bibliography

Zendt M*, Bustos Carrillo FA*, Kelly S, Saturday T, DeGrange M, Ginigeme A, Wu L, Callier V, Ortega-Villa A, Faust M, Chang-Rabley E, Bugal K, Kenney H, Khil P, Youn JH, Osei G, Regmi P, Anderson V, Bosticardo M, Daub J, DiMaggio T, Kreuzburg S, Pala F, Pfister J, Treat J, Ulrick J, Karkanitsa M, Kalish H, Kuhns DB, Priel DL, Fink DL, Tsang JS, Sparks R, Uzel G, Waldman MA, Zerbe CS, Delmonte OM, Bergerson JRE, Das S, Freeman AF, Lionakis MS, Sadtler K, van Doremalen N, Munster V, Notarangelo LD, Holland SM, Ricotta EE. Characterization of the antispike IgG immune response to COVID-19 vaccines in people with a wide variety of immunodeficiencies. Sci Adv. 2023 Oct 13;9(41):eadh3150. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adh3150.

Ricotta EE, Rid A, Cohen IG, Evans NG. Observational studies must be reformed before the next pandemic. Nat Med. 2023 Aug;29(8):1903-1905. doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02375-8.

Smith BA, Ricotta EE, Kwan JL, Evans NG. COVID-19 risk perception and vaccine acceptance in individuals with self-reported chronic respiratory or autoimmune conditions. Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol. 2023 May 4;19(1):37. doi: 10.1186/s13223-023-00791-6.

Mayer LM, Strich JR, Kadri SS, Lionakis MS, Evans NG, Prevots DR, Ricotta EE. Machine Learning in Infectious Disease for Risk Factor Identification and Hypothesis Generation: Proof of Concept Using Invasive Candidiasis. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022 Aug 3;9(8):ofac401. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac401.

Drummond RA, Desai JV, Ricotta EE, Swamydas M, Deming C, Conlan S, Quinones M, Matei-Rascu V, Sherif L, Lecky D, Lee CR, Green NM, Collins N, Zelazny AM, Prevots DR, Bending D, Withers D, Belkaid Y, Segre JA, Lionakis MS. Long-term antibiotic exposure promotes mortality after systemic fungal infection by driving lymphocyte dysfunction and systemic escape of commensal bacteria. Cell Host Microbe. 2022 Jul 13;30(7):1020-1033.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.04.013.

Jeremiah Matson M*, Ricotta E*, Feldmann F, Massaquoi M, Sprecher A, Giuliani R, Edwards JK, Rosenke K, de Wit E, Feldmann H, Chertow DS, Munster VJ. Evaluation of viral load in patients with Ebola virus disease in Liberia: a retrospective observational study. Lancet Microbe. 2022 Jul;3(7):e533-e542. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00065-9.

Delmonte OM, Bergerson JRE, Burbelo PD, Durkee-Shock JR, Dobbs K, Bosticardo M, Keller MD, McDermott DH, Rao VK, Dimitrova D, Quiros-Roldan E, Imberti L, Ferrè EMN, Schmitt M, Lafeer C, Pfister J, Shaw D, Draper D, Truong M, Ulrick J, DiMaggio T, Urban A, Holland SM, Lionakis MS, Cohen JI, Ricotta EE*, Notarangelo LD*, Freeman AF*. Antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in individuals with various inborn errors of immunity. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 Nov;148(5):1192-1197. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2021.08.016.

Kadri SS, Sun J, Lawandi A, Strich JR, Busch LM, Keller M, Babiker A, Yek C, Malik S, Krack J, Dekker JP, Spaulding AB, Ricotta E, Powers JH 3rd, Rhee C, Klompas M, Athale J, Boehmer TK, Gundlapalli AV, Bentley W, Datta SD, Danner RL, Demirkale CY, Warner S. Association Between Caseload Surge and COVID-19 Survival in 558 U.S. Hospitals, March to August 2020. Ann Intern Med. 2021 Sep;174(9):1240-1251. doi: 10.7326/M21-1213.

Abers MS*, Delmonte OM*, Ricotta EE*, Fintzi J*, Fink DL, de Jesus AAA, Zarember KA, Alehashemi S, Oikonomou V, Desai JV, Canna SW, Shakoory B, Dobbs K, Imberti L, Sottini A, Quiros-Roldan E, Castelli F, Rossi C, Brugnoni D, Biondi A, Bettini LR, D'Angio' M, Bonfanti P, Castagnoli R, Montagna D, Licari A, Marseglia GL, Gliniewicz EF, Shaw E, Kahle DE, Rastegar AT, Stack M, Myint-Hpu K, Levinson SL, DiNubile MJ, Chertow DW, Burbelo PD, Cohen JI, Calvo KR, Tsang JS; NIAID COVID-19 Consortium; Su HC, Gallin JI, Kuhns DB, Goldbach-Mansky R, Lionakis MS, Notarangelo LD. An immune-based biomarker signature is associated with mortality in COVID-19 patients. JCI Insight. 2021 Jan 11;6(1):e144455. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.144455.

Ricotta E, Kwan J. Artemisinin-Resistant Malaria as a Global Catastrophic Biological Threat. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 2019;424:33-57. doi: 10.1007/82_2019_163.