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Faculty

Our faculty members make up the Instructional Areas that include Biomedical Sciences, Infectious Diseases, Clinical Sciences, and One Health.  

Faculty

Faculty Member Contact Information Reseach Interest
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Xiaoping Zhu, DVM, Ph.D.

Associate Dean & Department Chairman

Phone: 301-314-6814

Email: xzhu1@umd.edu

Webpage

  • Mucosal Immunology
  • Inflammation
  • Immune Response to Infection
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George Belov, Ph.D.

Professor & Director, CBSC Graduate Program Director

Phone: 301-314-1259

Email: gbelov@umd.edu

Webpage

  • Enterovirus Replication
  • Vaccine and Antiviral Development
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Alix K. Berglund, DVM, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Telephone: 301-405-2989

Email: akberglu@umd.edu

Webpage

  • Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy
  • Regulation of MHC I Antigen Processing and Presentation
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Seth Dickey, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Telephone: 301-405-2989

Email: sdickey@umd.edu

  • Pathway analysis of MRSA
  • Pore-forming antimicrobial peptides
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Mostafa Ghanem, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Telephone: 301-314-1191

Email: mghanem@umd.edu

Webpage

  • Molecular Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases
  • Molecular Diagnostics
  • Food Safety
  • Poultry Health and Outreach
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Chrysoula Kitsou, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor

Phone: 301-314-8257

Email: ckitsou@umd.edu

  • Lyme borreliosis
  • Tick interventions & Tick transmitted infections
  • Genetics, transgenics, and embryogensis 
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Weizhong Li, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor

Phone: 301-314-5626

Email: WLi123@umd.edu

  • Respiratory infection
  • Mucosal immune response 
  • Vaccine development
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Daniel Nelson, Ph.D.

Professor

Phone: 240-314-6249

Email: nelsond@umd.edu

  • Alternative antimicrobials
  • Bacteriophage-derived endolysins
  • Human and animal bacterial pathogens
  • Protein structure/function/engineering 
  • Bacterial biofilms
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Utpal Pal, Ph.D.

Professor

Phone: 301-314-2118

Email: upal@umd.edu

Webpage

  • Borrelia pathogenesis & immune evasion
  • Ixodes scapularis biology & immune response
  • Vector-host-pathogen interactions
  • Lyme disease prevention & treatment
  • Genetic/genomic tools & CRISPR
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Jaekeun Park, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Telephone: 301-314-0687

Email: jpark138@umd.edu

  • Influenza pathogenesis
  • T cell immunology
  • Vaccinology
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Sean Riley, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Phone: 301-314-6821

Email: sriley3@umd.edu

Webpage

  • Spotted Fever Rickettsia
  • Intracellular bacteria
  • Innate Immunology
  • Vaccination
  • Host-pathogen Interactions
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Meiqing Shi, DVM, Ph.D.

Professor

Phone: 301-314-1122

Email: mshi@umd.edu

  •  Fungal immunology
  •  Brain invasion by Cryptococcus neoformans
  •  Host-pathogen interactions
  •  Parasite immunology
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Ekaterina Viktorova, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor

Phone: 301-314-1400

Email: eviktoro@umd.edu

  • Enterovirus replication and host interaction
  • Enterovirus vaccine development
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Xiuli Yang, Ph.D.

Assistant Research Professor

Phone: 301-226-2756

Email: xyang1@umd.edu

 

  • Borrelia pathogenesis & host interaction
  • Anti-tick vaccine development
  • Virulence determinants & host immune response
  • Tick biology & immune responses
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Yanjin Zhang, DVM, MSc, Ph.D.

Associate Professor 

Phone: 301-314-6596

Email: zhangyj@umd.edu

 

  • Molecular virology
  • Virus-cell interactions
  • Innate immunity, antiviral signaling
  • Vaccine development
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Nathaniel Tablante, DVM, MPVM, MSc

Emeritus Professor

Phone: 301-314-6810

Emai: nlt@umd.edu

  • Poultry medicine 
  • Epidemiology
  • Poultry health management
     
     

 

Affiliate & Adjunct Faculty

 

Faculty Member Contact Information Research Focus
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Maria Salvato, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor

Phone: 401-493-8912

Email: msalvat1@umd.edu

  • Pathogenesis of RNA viruses
  • Bioinformatics of Hemorrhagic fever
  • Immune response to virus infection
  • Taxonomy of Negative Strand Viruses
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Shankar Mondal, Ph.D.

Adjunct Associate Professor

Phone: 410-543-6610    

Email: shankar.mondal@maryland.gov

  • Avian Viruses
  • Food-borne pathogens
  • Viral epidemiology
  • Host-Pathogen interaction
  • Vaccinology
  • Immunology
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Joan K Lunney, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor

Phone: 240-645-5536

Email: joan.lunney@usda.gov

webpage

 
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Jia-Ray Yu, Ph.D.

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Phone: 202-960-1846

Email: jiarayyu@vt.edu 

  • Chromatin regulation
  • Cancer epigenetic
  • Neural differentiation 
  • Developmental disorders
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Gerardo Kaplan, PhD

Adjunct Professor

Phone: 240-402-9620

Email: gerardo.kaplan@fda.hhs.gov

  • Hepatitis viruses and filoviruses
  • Food- and blood-borne pathogens
  • Viral pathogenesis
  • Viral cell entry
  • Extracellular vesicles
  • Vaccinology
  • Immunology
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Kristen K. Coleman, PhD

Affiliate Assistant Professor

Phone: 301-405-5509

Email: kkcolema@umd.edu

  • Airborne infectious disease transmission
  • Viral epidemiology
  • Human and animal influenza viruses
  • Adenovirus
  • One Health
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Youssef A. Kousa, MS, D.O., Ph.D.

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Phone: 202-545-2784

Email: ykousa@cnmc.org

  • Host-pathogen interaction
  • Genetic risk for virally induced injury
  • Brain development
  • Viral autophagy
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Shaik Rahaman, Ph.D.

Affiliate Professor

Phone: 301-405-2940

Email: srahaman@umd.edu

  • Fibrosis
  • Atherosclerosis
  • Foreign body response
  • Immunology
  • Mechanotransduction
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Chinta Lamichhane, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor

Phone: 240-832-9699

Email: Chinta.lamichhane@antechdx.com

 
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Andrew J Broadbent, Ph.D.

Affiliate Assistant Professor

Phone: 301 405-0376

Email: ajbroad@umd.edu 

 

  • Molecular biology of avian viruses
  • Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV)
  • Avian reovirus (ARV)
  • Avian influenza virus (AIV)
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Senthilkumar Palaniyandi, Ph.D.

Adjunct Assistant Research Professor

 
     
     
     

 

 

Post Doctoral & Faculty Assistants

Post Doctoral Contact Information Lab
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Shalka Lanka Acharige, Ph.D.

Faculty Assistant

Phone: 301-314-8257

Email: slankaac@umd.edu

Dr. Pal Lab
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Sumana Bhowmick, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Phone: 301-314-5787

Email: sub29@umd.edu

Dr. Dickey Lab
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Yanli Chen, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Email  ylchen95@umd.edu

Dr. Shi Lab
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Zhang, Min, Ph.D.

Faculty Specialist

Phone: 301-314-8257

Email  mzhang23@umd.edu

Dr. Pal Lab
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Kathryn Nassar

Research Coordinator

Phone 301-314-4060

Email knassar@umd.edu

Dr. Pal Lab
 

 

 
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Arunraj Mekhemadhom Rajendrakumar, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Phone: 301-314-7862

Email :arunraj@umd.edu

Dr. Zhu Lab
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Vipin Rana, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Phone: 301-314-8257

Email: vrana@umd.edu

Dr. Pal Lab
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Tao Wang, Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Research Professor

Phone: 301-314-5626

Email: tottiwang@hotmail.com  

Dr. Zhu Lab
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Sonia Sharma, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Phone: 301-314-8257

Email: ssharm25@umd.edu

Dr. Pal Lab
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Ishita Roy Chowdhury, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Email: iroychow@terpmail.umd.edu

Dr. Park Lab