Quick, simple, doctor-reviewed answers.

COVID-101 is your resource for reliable, easy-to-understand answers to all your questions on the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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Our consortium of public health experts, medical doctors, and experts-in-training rapidly review the scientific literature and tell you what you need to know. Each post is reviewed for accuracy by our doctors.

Editorial Team

Joel Bernanke, MD MSc

Columbia University

Editor & Co-Founder

Joel Bernanke is a fellow in child psychiatry translational research at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is board certified in General Psychiatry and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Bernanke completed his undergraduate studies at Simon’s Rock College, and he obtained his master’s degree in epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health. He went to medical school at Weill Cornell Medical College, completed his general psychiatry training at Columbia University, and his specialization at the Columbia University / Weill Cornell Medical College joint training program. Dr. Bernanke is usually focused on neuroimaging and machine learning to better understand ADHD. He has a background in epidemiology and statistical methods.

Emily Smith, ScD MPH

The George Washington University

Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder

Emily Smith is an Assistant Professor of Global Health and Nutrition at The George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health. She also holds a research appointment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Smith completed her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, and she received a Master of Public Health from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. Dr. Smith earned her doctorate from the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she focused on population health, epidemiologic methods, and infectious disease epidemiology.

Gretchen Snoeyenbos Newman, MD

University of Washington

Editor & Co-Founder

Gretchen Snoeyenbos Newman is an Assistant Professor of Infectious Disease at Wayne State University in Detroit. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease. Dr. Snoeyenbos Newman completed her undergraduate studies at Mount Holyoke College, working on the history of poliovirus vaccine development. She went to medical school at Emory University and completed her internship and residency there. Her clinical fellowship in Infectious Disease was at the University of Washington. Dr. Snoeyenbos Newman usually focuses on increasing the US-based HIV workforce and on medical education, and she has been drafted into the coronavirus response.

Contributors

Gabrielle Aranda, BS

The George Washington University

Gabby Aranda is a masters in public health student at the George Washington University School of Public Health, interested in epidemiology, women’s health, and health disparities among people of color. Gabby completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Gender and Women’s Studies, Biology, and Integrated Studies in Science, Engineering, and Society. She has an extensive background in government work, politics, activism, and healthcare.

Sanjeet Baidwan, MD

Yale University

Sanjeet Baidwan is an internal medicine physician in New York City. Dr. Baidwan is a clinical instructor at the Yale School of Medicine, where she teaches Prevention & Lifestyle Medicine to first-year medical students. Dr. Baidwan completed her undergraduate studies at Texas Tech University, medical school at the University of Texas at Houston, and residency in Internal Medicine - Primary Care at the Yale School of Medicine. She practices inpatient, outpatient, and telemedicine in Brooklyn.

Alexandra Bellows, MPH

Johns Hopkins University

Alexandra Bellows is a PhD candidate in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Ms. Bellows completed her undergraduate studies in Human Biology, Health and Society at Cornell University, and she has a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Ms. Bellows’ research focuses on how to measure and improve diets and food systems globally.

Alyssa Bernanke, BA

Duke University

Alyssa Bernanke is an MD/PhD candidate at Duke University in the department of pharmacology, where she studies the neural circuitry and neurobiological mechanisms of fear learning and behavioral conditioning. Ms. Bernanke completed her undergraduate studies at St. John's College, where she majored in classics and philosophy. She attended a premedical postbaccalaureate program at the University of Southern California before she entered the MD/PhD program at Duke University. In addition to her thesis work in neurobiology, Ms. Bernanke has conducted research in cancer biology and immunology.

Elizabeth Brickley, PhD MPhil

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Elizabeth Brickley is an Assistant Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College. Dr. Brickley completed her undergraduate studies at Williams College and MPhils in geography and epidemiology at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Brickley earned a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology as an NIH OxCam Scholar, during which she studied jointly between the University of Cambridge and the US National Institutes of Health.

Chase Cannon, MD

University of Washington

Chase Cannon is a Senior Infectious Disease Fellow and primary care provider for people living with HIV at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Dr. Cannon completed medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, then Internal Medicine training at Tulane University in New Orleans. Along with his fellowship, Dr. Cannon is working toward a Master of Public Health at the University of Washington. His research focuses on the expansion of services for the prevention of HIV, syphilis, and other sexually transmitted infections.

Emma Clarke-Deelder, MPhil

Harvard University

Emma Clarke-Deelder is a PhD candidate in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Ms. Clarke-Deelder completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University and her MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, She previously worked at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in Geneva, Switzerland, and at Laterite, a research and advisory firm in Kigali, Rwanda. Ms. Clark-Deelder focuses on how to improve the implementation of maternal and child health programs around the world, with emphasis on vaccination programs.

Jennifer Corwin, MD

Winchester Hospital

Jennifer Corwin MD is a board certified pediatrician practicing in Reading, Massachusetts. She has special interests in vaccine education and breastfeeding medicine. She is also a board certified lactation consultant. She completed her undergraduate studies in Neuroscience and Behavior at Mount Holyoke College where she studied the effects of the maternal immune response on placental development. She completed her medical degree at Cornell University Medical College and her Pediatrics residency at The Massachusetts General Hospital for Children.

Reina Engle-Stone, Ph.D.

UC Davis

Reina Engle-Stone, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition at UC Davis. Dr. Engle-Stone's research is in global public health nutrition, with a focus on micronutrient nutrition among women and young children in low-income settings. Research themes include planning, monitoring, and evaluation of food fortification programs; cost-effectiveness and coherence among micronutrient intervention programs, and nutritional assessment.

Matthew Fox, DSc MPH

Boston University

Matthew Fox, DSc, MPH, is a Professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Global Health at the Boston University School of Public Health. Dr. Fox’s research includes HIV treatment programs’ outcomes, infectious disease epidemiology (especially HIV and pneumonia), and epidemiologic methods. He researches quantitative bias analysis and co-authored a book on that topic, entitled Applying Quantitative Bias Analysis to Epidemiologic Data. Dr. Fox hosts a public health journal club podcast called Free Associations that’s designed to help people keep up with developments in the public health literature and to think critically about study quality.

Gavin Harris, MD

Emory University

Gavin Harris is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Emory. He is trained in both infectious diseases and critical care medicine. He completed undergraduate studies at Columbia University, attended medical school at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and completed a residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, all in NYC. He then undertook a dual clinical fellowship in infectious diseases and critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Board certified in both internal medicine and infectious diseases, a fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in the Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative, he has professional interests in disaster medicine, biosecurity, and treatments of high consequence pathogens.

Rachel Hoying, BS

at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Rachel Hoying is a medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She is particularly interested in pediatrics and is conducting research on breastfeeding and lactation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rachel completed her undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

Samuel Jenness, PhD

Emory University

Samuel Jenness, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He is the Principal Investigator of the EpiModel Research Lab, where the research focuses on developing methods and software tools for modeling infectious diseases. Dr. Jenness's primary applications are focused on understanding HIV and STI transmission in the United States and globally, as well as the intersection between infectious disease epidemiology and network science.

Brad Kern, PhD

The George Washington University

Brad Kern is a masters of public health student at the George Washington University School of Public health, concentrating in epidemiology. His major research interests include outbreak surveillance and investigation, molecular epidemiology, and emerging infectious diseases. Dr. Kern completed his PhD in microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied the emerging pediatric pathogen Kingella kingae. He also holds a bachelor's degree in molecular biology from Princeton University and is a former NIH fellow.

Alexander Lankowski, MD

University of Washington

Alex Lankowski is a Senior Infectious Diseases Fellow at the University of Washington and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he received a master’s degree in medical sciences and attended medical school at Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. He has also completed advanced training in biostatistics and epidemiological methods. Dr. Lankowski currently divides his time between Seattle and Lima, Peru, where his research focuses on developing strategies to optimize HIV prevention and care outcomes.

Elaine Meyer, MS

Freelance

Elaine Meyer is a freelance writer, editor, and communication strategist who works with healthcare organizations and tech companies. Ms. Meyer completed her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, and she earned a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism. She previously worked in communications at NYU Langone Health and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Before that, Ms. Meyer was a journalist covering law and education. Her clients have included the Association for Psychological Science, the City Health Dashboard, the City University of New York's Graduate School of Public Health, Doist, NYU Langone, and Rush University Medical Center.

Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, MPH

University of Wollongong

Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz is an epidemiologist working in chronic disease in Sydney's west, with a particular focus on diabetes. He writes a weekly blog on public health, policy, and science communication-particularly where these things go wrong. He has recently begun a PhD with the University of Wollongong researching the social determinants of diabetes, and is passionate about the social causes of our ill health.

Abigail Neel, MSPH

Johns Hopkins University

Abigail Neel is a faculty member in the International Health Department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Ms. Neel completed her undergraduate studies at Whitman College, and she received her master’s degree in Health Systems from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has worked for public health organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Jhpiego. Ms. Neel’s current research focuses on health policy and implementation science, especially strengthening immunization systems and improving health access.

Kira Newman, MD PhD

University of Washington

Kira Newman is an internal medicine resident at the University of Washington. She is also a postdoctoral fellow at the Chu Lab in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the University of Washington. Dr. Newman completed her undergraduate studies at Yale University, and she earned her medical degree and a PhD in epidemiology at Emory University. Dr. Newman focuses her research on diarrheal disease immunology and epidemiology, as well as the gastrointestinal manifestations of respiratory viral illnesses.

Scott Quinlan, PhD

The George Washington University

Dr. Quinlan is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at The George Washington University. He has close to 5 years of experience teaching a range of graduate courses in epidemiology and biostatistics, both in the on-campus and online environment. He received his BS in biochemistry from the University of Delaware and his MS and PhD in Epidemiology from The George Washington University.

His dissertation research involved an examination of the role of infections in cancer development, specifically looking at the most common cancers in solid organ transplant recipients. Dr. Quinlan has taught courses in introductory epidemiology and biostatistics, advanced data analysis methods for public health, and the epidemiology of drug and vaccine safety.

Daniel Robinson, MD MSc

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Daniel Robinson is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and an attending neonatologist at Lurie Children’s Hospital. He completed medical school and residency at the University of Chicago and then his fellowship in Perinatal-Neonatal Medicine at Yale University. His research focuses on nutrition provided to critically ill newborns. This work involves the study of human milk, breastfeeding/lactation, maternal nutrition and infant health outcomes. He also holds national committee roles responsible for implementing clinical guidelines for the management of neonatal nutrition for hospitalized newborns.

Mohannad Salaghur, MPH

Boston University School of Public Health

Mohannad is an MPH student at Boston University School of Public Health with a concentration in Environmental Health. He graduated from Seattle University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. Upon graduation, he worked as a medical device sales representative in addition to participating in different environmental projects. Recently, Mohannad has been working with BUSPH Epidemiology COVID-19 Response Corps to address important epidemiologic issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including research, communication, and best practices.

Julia Sobolik, MS MPH

Emory University

Julia Sobolik is a PhD candidate in the Environmental Health Sciences Department at Emory University, where she focuses on food safety and environmental microbiology. She is particularly interested in the transmission pathways of viral pathogens, such as human noroviruses, in the agriculture setting and risk mitigation strategies for consumers. Ms. Sobolik completed her undergraduate studies in Biology and International Studies at Oregon State University, followed by a Master of Public Health in Global Health Infectious Diseases from Emory University. She also has a Master of Science in Microbiology from the University of Washington.

OD Somefun, PhD MA

University of Witwatersrand

Dr. Somefun, earned her PhD in demography and population studies at the University of Witwatersrand, where she also obtained at MA and BA degrees. She completed her BSc in Microbiology at Benson Idahosa University, Nigeria. Her major research focuses on improving the sexual and reproductive health behaviours of youth through health communication and policy dissemination.

Heather Young, PhD MPH

The George Washington University

Heather Young, PhD MPH, is Professor and Vice Chair of Epidemiology at The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She completed her MPH and PhD in epidemiology at The George Washington University. She teaches courses at the introductory and advanced levels of epidemiology as well as specialized courses in reproductive and perinatal epidemiology and cancer epidemiology. Her areas of research interest include reproductive cancers, reproductive outcomes related to environmental and occupation exposures, pesticide exposure assessment, and health of military and veteran populations. Dr. Young’s research has included AIDS-related malignancies in the District of Columbia, cancer patterns in Gulf War veterans, reproductive outcomes in Army Chemical Corps Veterans exposed to dioxin during Vietnam, cancer disparities in the District of Columbia, herbicide exposure and ovarian cancer risk, and pesticide exposures and male factor reproductive effects in Faroese, US and Chinese populations. In addition, she has served as a technical advisor for data issues for DC’s HIV AIDS Administration and as a statistical consultant on several veterans’ health studies for the Institute of Medicine’s Medical Follow-Up Agency.

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Quick, simple, doctor-reviewed answers.

This is how we do it.

Editorial Team

Editor & Co-Founder

Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder

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