COVID-19 Research Leadership and Members

About our Contributors

The Tufts COVID-19 Research Cluster supports a thriving research community focused on changing the course of this pandemic and the next.  The research community includes over 250 faculty and staff from across Tufts’ schools and institutions: School of Medicine, School of Engineering, School of Arts and Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Science, School of Dental Medicine, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and a broad representation from the Tufts Medical Center departments ranging from prenatal to palliative care.  In July 2020, a representative 12-member COVID-19 Research Steering Committee was appointed to design meetings and events to bring the group together and advise on development of the full Research Group.  The Group is facilitated and supported by the Strategic Initiatives team of the OVPR.

Members

If you are interested in becoming a member of the COVID-19 Research Cluster, email COVID19Research@tufts.edu.

Members                                                         *Project Lead

Project Title

Addy Alt-Holland (TUSDM)

 

Jonathan Garlick* (TUSDM)

Jennifer Allen (A&S)

Building trust in a Covid-19 vaccine among Brazilian immigrant and Asian immigrant communities through dialogue

Michael Hughes (School of Engineering)

Developed open-source probabilistic model for predicting future daily hospital occupancy counts across stages of care (in general ward, in ICU, on ventilation). See https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.00773

Krishna Kumar

The research interests of the Kumar laboratory are centered on the (1) use of chemistry to design molecules to interrogate and illuminate fundamental mechanisms in biology, or be used as therapeutics; and (2) use of biology to “evolve” and “select” molecules that can perform chemistry in non-biological and medicinal settings. See https://www.kumarlabs.org/

Athena Papas* (TUSDM)

Charles Mace (A&S)

Evaluation of a bench-side molecular assay for SARS-CoV-2 in dental patients

Wendy Puryear (Cummings)

Viral reservoirs and host adaptations, intra and inter-species transmission

Sally Robinson* (Cummings)

Saul Tzipori (Cummings)

Amanda Martinot (Cummings)

Optimization of a golden hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection to facilitate investigation of viral pathogenesis and transmission and evaluate therapeutics and vaccines

Kaitlin Sawatzki (Cummings)

The CoVERS study is investigating genetic and environmental risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 interspecies transmission.

 

Matthias Scheutz* (School of Engineering)

Diane Souvaine (School of Engineering)

Matias Korman (School of Engineering)

Autonomous Robot Platform for Disinfection

Martin Son (OVPR)

 

Amanda Vest (Tufts Medical Center)

COVID-19 in solid organ transplant recipients and cardiac manifestations of COVID-19

Tamara Vesel* (Tufts Medical Center)

Thomas Stopka (TUSM)

Emma Ernst (TUSM)

Changes in perceptions, utilization, and the role of palliative care in a healthcare system among community hospital critical care physicians and their leaders and healthcare system leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic

Alysse Wurcel* (Tufts Medical Center)

Elena Byhoff (School of Medicine)

Jana Leary (Tufts Medical Center)

Amy LeClair (School of Medicine)

Karen Freund (Tufts Medical Center)

Equity and Disparity in Testing and Diagnosis

 

Members                                                         *Project Lead

Project Title

Jennifer Allen (School of Arts and Sciences)

Understanding COVID Vaccine Uptake among Vulnerable Populations

Hellen Amuguni* (Cummings)

Michael Jordan (School of Medicine)

Marieke Rosenbaum (Cummings)

Tess Gannaway (Cummings)

Gender Disparities in COVID-19 Disease

Laura Corlin* (School of Medicine)

Thomas Stopka (School of Medicine)

Alice Tang (School of Medicine)

Jeffery Griffiths (School of Medicine)

Ramnath Subbaraman (School of Medicine)

Impact of Air Quality in COVID-19 Disease Transmission

 

 

 

Erin Coughlan de Perez (Feinstein International Center, Friedman School of Nutrition)

Managing multiple hazards: lessons from anticipatory humanitarian action for climate disasters during COVID-19

Lisa Gualtieri (School of Medicine)

Changes in Health Information Seeking Behavior During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Michael House* (Tufts Medical Center)

Alissa Dangel (Tufts Medical Center)

Andrew Polio (Tufts Medical Center)

Home-based Fetal Monitoring in Response to COVID-19

Shan Jiang (School of Arts and Sciences

Just Accessibility and Impact of COVID-19 for Top US Metropolitan Areas

Sucharita Kher* (Tufts Medical Center)

Amy LeClair (School of Medicine)

Karen Freund (Tufts Medical Center)

Dineli Ahearn (School of Medicine)

 

Hospital at Home in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

Daniele Lantagne (School of Engineering)

Investigating the effectiveness of water supply and treatment, sanitation, and hygiene (hand hygiene and surface disinfection) interventions to reduce the spread of infectious diseases (e.g., COVID, Ebola, cholera).

Raza Malik* (Tufts Medical Center)

David Lee (Tufts Medical Center)

Gregory Fan (Tufts Medical Center)

David Hastie (Tufts Medical Center)

The effect of abnormal liver function test on the prognostic outcomes of patients admitted with COVID-19 infection as stratified by race and socioeconomic status

Dan Maxwell (Feinstein International Center, Friedman School of Nutrition)

Peter Hailey (Feinstein International Center, Friedman School of Nutrition)

 

FCDO COVID-19 Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Help Desk

 

Lisa Shin (School of Arts and Sciences)

Evaluation of the effect of COVID-19 as a traumatic stressor that could increase the risk of posttraumatic stress disorder and other chronic illnesses.

Alice Tang (School of Medicine)

Shira Doron (Tufts Medical Center)

Ramnath Subbaraman (School of Medicine)

Sources of infection in Tufts Medical Center employees

Alice Tang (School of Medicine)

Kimberly Dong (School of Medicine)

Health effects of COVID-19 and anti-Asian racism in Asian Americans

Alysse Wurcel* (Tufts Medical Center)

Elena Byhoff (School of Medicine)

Jana Leary (Tufts Medical Center)

Amy LeClair (School of Medicine)

Karen Freund (Tufts Medical Center)

Equity and Disparity in Testing and Diagnosis

 

Members                                                         *Project Lead

Project Title

Stephen Bunnell* (TUSM)

Albert Tai (TUSM),

Alexander Poltorak (TUSM)

Shruti Sharma (TUSM)

Autologous NK killing as a driver of lymphopenia in COVID-19

Michael Jordan (School of Medicine)

Honorine Ward (School of Medicine)

Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University Covid-19 Biorepository and Comprehensive Database

Alexander Poltorak* (School of Medicine)

Shruti Sharma (School of Medicine)

Alexander Panda (HNRCA)

Alexei Degterev (School of Medicine)

Marta Rodriguez-Garcia (School of Medicine)

Paola Massari (School of Medicine)

Pilar Alcaide (School of Medicine)

Rebecc Batorsky (Research Technology, Tufts Technology Services)

Robert Blanton  (Tufts Medical Center)

Xudong Li (School of Medicine)

Immune Signatures Associated with COVID-19 Disease

Gary Horowitz* (Tufts Medical Center)

Helen Boucher (School of Medicine)

Ming Zhou (Tufts Medical Center)

Profiling the Antibody Response in COVID-19 Patients

Guo-fu Hu* (Tufts Medical Center)

Michael Jordan (Tufts)

Role of angiogenin in regulating cytokine storm and lymphopenia in COVID-19

Amanda Martinot* (Cummings)

Saul Tzipori (Cummings)

Sally Robinson (Cummings)

Cesar Piedra-Mora (Cummings)

Digital pathology for assessing modulation of myeloid mediated lung injury during acute SARS CoV-2 Infection in hamsters

Claire Moore (School of Medicine)

The role of alternative mRNA polyadenylation in SARS-CoV-2 replication and the host response

Lisa Shin (Arts and Sciences)

Evaluation of the effect of COVID-19 as a traumatic stressor that could increase the risk of posttraumatic stress disorder and other chronic illnesses.

Honorine Ward (Tufts Medical Center)

Tufts Medical Center and Tufts University Covid-19 Biorepository and Comprehensive Database with a current focus on breakthrough infections following vaccination and post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV2

 

Members                                                         *Project Lead

Project Title

Daniele Lantagne (School of Engineering)

Investigating the effectiveness of water supply and treatment, sanitation, and hygiene (hand hygiene and surface disinfection) interventions to reduce the spread of infectious diseases (e.g,. COVID, Ebola, cholera).

Wendy Puryear (Cummings)

Viral reservoirs and host adaptations, intra and inter-species transmission

Kaitlin Sawatzki (Cummings)

The CoVERS study is investigating genetic and environmental risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 interspecies transmission.

 

Patrick Webb (Friedman School)

Lockdown impacts on families' health-seeking behavior in Jordan and Uganda.