St. Jude Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance

The St. Jude CEIRS continues to support an international flu surveillance network focused on wild birds and domestic animals that includes sites in the U.S., Canada, Bangladesh, China, Colombia, and Egypt. St. Jude researchers are particularly interested in understanding how some avian flu viruses jump from infecting birds to infecting humans and other mammals while others do not. In addition to surveillance, researchers are studying the human immune response to flu, risk factors associated with flu complications, transmission of flu, and others. The CEIRS contract also supports St. Jude’s ongoing role in developing flu vaccine seed stock that can be used to ramp up production of new flu vaccines.

Brochure

For more information on St. Jude CEIRS, read about the program in the St. Jude CEIRS Brochure.
SJCEIRS brochure_2014 page 1

Homepage

St. Jude Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS)
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Data

The CEIRS Centers generate influenza surveillance and sequence data available in the public domain and accessible for further research. The public databases listed below have further information about St. Jude CEIRS projects, influenza viral sequences from research and surveillance studies, and animal surveillance data from Center sampling efforts.

Principal Investigators


Picture of Richard Webby

Dr. Richard Webby, PhD

Principal Investigator

Picture of Stacey Schultz-Cherry

Dr. Stacey Schultz-Cherry, PhD

Co-Principal Investigator

Investigators

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

  • Elena Govorkova, MD, PhD, Laboratory Director, Department of Infectious Diseases
  • Lisa Kercher, PhD, Laboratory Operations Manager, Department of Infectious Diseases
  • Maureen McGargill, PhD, Associate Member, Department of Immunology
  • Charles Russell, PhD, Associate Member, St. Jude Faculty, Department of Infectious Diseases
  • Stacey Schultz-Cherry, PhD, Member, St, Jude Faculty, Department of Infectious Diseases
  • Paul Thomas, PhD, Associate Member, St. Jude Faculty, Department of Immunology
  • Richard Webby, PhD, Member, St. Jude Faculty, Department of Infectious Diseases
  • Robert Webster, PhD, Member, St. Jude Faculty, Department of Infectious Diseases
  • Benjamin Youngblood, PhD, Assistant Member, Department of Immunology

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

  • Tomer Hertz, PhD, Senior Lecturer, The Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Genetics

Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

  • Gavin Smith, PhD, MASM, Professor, Emerging Infectious Diseases Program

Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse (ENVT)

Fundacion Salud para el Tropico (Tropical Health Foundation)

  • Juan Carlos Dib, MD, PhD, Professor, Tropical Medicine at Magdalena University in Colombia

Human Link

Institute of Environmental Science & Research (ESR)

  • Sue Huang, PhD, Director, WHO National Influenza Centre
  • Claire Newbern, PhD, MPH, Lead Epidemiologist, Health Intelligence Team

Kansas State University

  • Wenjun Ma, PhD, Assistant Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine
  • Juergen Richt, DVM, PhD, Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine

Monash University 

  • Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute
  • Stephen Turner, PhD, Professor and Head of Department, Department of Microbiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute

National Research Center, Egypt

  • Mohamed A.A. Ali, PhD, Professor, Environmental Research Division

The Ohio State University

The Scripps Research Institute

  • James C. Paulson, PhD, Professor and Co-Chair, Department of Molecular Medicine, Department of Immunology and Microbiology
  • Andrew Thompson, PhD, Staff Scientist, Department of Immunology and Microbiology

The University of Hong Kong

  • Michael C.W. Chan, PhD, Associate Professor, Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences
  • Ben Cowling, PhD, FFPH, Professor and Division Head, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
  • Yi Guan, MD, PhD, Professor, Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences
  • Malik Peiris, MBBS, D Phil (Oxon), Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences
  • Leo Lit Man Poon, PhD, Associate Professor, Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences
  • Hui Ling Yen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences
  • Huachen Zhu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences

United States Geological Survey

  • Jeffrey Hall, PhD, Research Virologist, National Wildlife Health Center

University of Chile

University of California, Davis

  • Christopher J. Miller, DVM, PhD, Professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine

University of Georgia

  • Justin Bahl, PhD, Associate Professor, Institute of Bioinformatics & Department of Infectious Diseases
  • David E. Stallknecht, PhD, Professor, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine

University of Michigan

  • Aubree Gordon, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
  • Emily Martin, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
  • Arnold S. Monto, MD, Professor, Department of Epidemiology

University of Minnesota

  • Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)

University of Pennsylvania

Washington University in St. Louis

  • Adrianus Boon, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
  • Ali Ellebedy, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Immunology

Center Data Managers

  • Kimberly Friedman, CEIRS Research Database Specialist
  • Kristen Hildebrand, CCRP, Clinical Coordinator

Center Coordinator

  • Pam McKenzie, PhD, Director, St. Jude CEIRS Global Surveillance