Meet our research team of epidemiologists, data analysts, data managers, and operations staff.
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Denis Nash, PhD
Principal Investigator
Denis Nash is a Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology at the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health, with research interests in infectious diseases, public health surveillance, and HIV/AIDS. He specializes in observational cohort-based epidemiologic research and leveraging public health surveillance registries to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and policies.
Kate Penrose is a Project Director at the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health, with a focus on using research to better understand factors that impact the prevention, treatment, and spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19. She previously worked as an epidemiologist on implementing and evaluating HIV, hepatitis C, and refugee and immigrant health programs.
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Sarah Kulkarni, MPH
Study Administrator
Sarah Kulkarni is the Associate Director of the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health. She has worn many different research hats in her 20 years of research experience, focusing on project management, human subjects’ protections, tool development, and data collection launch and dissemination.
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Subha Balasubramanian, BS
Data Manager
Subha Balasubramanian is a Data Manager/Data Analyst at the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health and is currently pursuing her MPH in Applied Epidemiology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings Global School of Public Health. Before joining ISPH, she worked as a Statistical data analyst at Zifo RND Solutions in India, where her work supported the FDA approval process for COVID treatments through clinical trials. Her research interests include infectious and communicable diseases.
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Emily Berger, MPH
Project Coordinator
Emily Berger is the Project Coordinator for Project PROTECTS at CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health. She previously served as a Resource Navigator for RF CUNY throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She holds a BS in Health Science from Boston University and an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from CUNY Graduate School of Public Health.
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Amanda Berry, MPH
Operations Manager
Amanda Berry is an Operations Manager at the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health. She works on prospective longitudinal cohort-based epidemiologic research focused on respiratory infections, including COVID-19, and data visualization dashboard projects.
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Sarah Ganzhorn, MPH
Operations Analyst
Sarah Ganzhorn is an Operations Analyst at the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health. She works on prospective longitudinal epidemiologic research investigating respiratory infections, such as COVID-19.
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McKaylee Robertson, PhD
Study Epidemiologist
McKaylee Robertson is an Investigator at the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health with training in epidemiological and biostatistical methods. Her research is primarily focused on the areas of HIV, disease surveillance and epidemiological methods developments.
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Jenny (Yanhan) Shen, MS
Data Analyst
Jenny Shen is a Research Scientist at the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health and is currently pursuing her PhD in Epidemiology at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health. Her research interests include long-term health effects of perinatally-acquired HIV and prolonged antiretroviral treatment, HIV-caused premature cognitive aging, post-COVID-19 conditions management, and dietary interventions to prevent diseases.
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Avantika Srivastava, MS
Data Analyst
Avantika Srivastava is a Research Scientist at the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health and is currently pursuing her PhD in Epidemiology at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health. She has experience in longitudinal cohort studies and causal inference methods for observational data. Her research interests include COVID-19 and the impact of climate change on HIV care outcomes.
Interested in becoming a participant in the Project PROTECTS study?