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 is an epidemiologist with over fifteen years of experience studying some of the world's most consequential infections, including malaria, Ebola, antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, and SARS-CoV-2. Her training spans molecular microbiology, immunology, statistical modeling, and machine learning. Dr. Ricotta has developed deep expertise in applying AI and machine learning to extract meaningful insights from complex health datasets with the goal of understanding disease risk and informing real-time clinical decision-making. She's especially focused on settings where randomized trials simply aren't feasible: military and austere environments, rare immune disorders, and traumatic injury. Her leadership in this space has been recognized domestically and internationally. Over the last several years, she has worked alongside bioengineers, immunologists, and trauma surgeons, collaborating across USU, the NIH, and other academic research centers to advance the science of immune response in the context of trauma.

Beyond the research itself, Dr. Ricotta works across the bench-to-policy pipeline, contributing to global public health monitoring, program evaluation, and scientific advocacy. She believes that good science only matters if it reaches the people who need it. Before joining the faculty at USU, she served as Chief of the Epidemiology and Data Management Unit and an Independent Research Scholar at NIAID (NIH), where she led multiple studies including PERSIST, which examined COVID-19 vaccine immune responses in people with immune disorders.

Courses:
PMO511 - Introduction to Epidemiology
PMO677 - Advanced Research Methods in Public Health
Independent Study available upon request

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

2025, David F. Cruess Outstanding Educator Award

2024, Finalist, Early Career Award, Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research

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

Ricotta EE, Bustos Carrillo FA, Agnelli-Nichols S, Barugahare J, Benton A, Carlson CJ, Chang-Rabley E, Dean N, Duda SN, Federer L, Fill MA, LeRoy EC, Linton NM, Lipsitch M, Mathur MB, Phelan AL, Rid A, Rosen JB, Sauer L, Sullivan SG, Zendt M, Evans NG. Reform Strategies for Observational Research in Epidemic Settings. BMJ Glob Health. 2025 Feb 10;10(2):e017981. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-017981. PMID: 39929534

Zendt M*, Bustos Carrillo FA*, Callier V, DeGrange M, Ginigeme A, Wu L, Manuelpillai B, Ortega-Villa A, Ricotta EE. (2025). Breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 outcomes in immune-disordered people during the Omicron era: a prospective cohort study. BMJ Public Health, 3(2), e002436. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjph-2024-002436

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.

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.

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.

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.