Stephanie Perniciaro, PhD, MPH

I worked in a sewage treatment facility, analyzing wastewater, sludge, and solids in the laboratory and catching fish and aqueous invertebrates on the bioinventory team. I worked in a VA hospital laboratory, performing endocrine experiments on obese rats. I assisted on a study of thermoregulatory behavior of lizards in the Sonoran Desert. I worked in a nutritional epidemiology laboratory, processing blood and urine samples. I worked in intraoperative research, testing medical devices and collecting various secretions. I worked in the German National Reference Center for Streptococci, registering and analyzing high volumes of bacterial isolates, then designing and carrying out various epidemiological studies related to the surveillance and sample collection.

The overarching goal of my research now is to optimize vaccine impact for respiratory disease, which requires unity between surveillance, policy, and advocacy. I want to determine how we should select vaccines for particular populations and how we should design future vaccines. I want to establish the best way to structure vaccine schedules, which segments of the population should receive vaccines, and how to improve vaccine uptake. I investigate the current and potential effects of using vaccines. In order to unravel these questions, high-quality, long-term, stable disease surveillance systems are essential.