Meet Our Team

As the Director of Administration, Marie works as the strategic partner to the department Chair and oversees the design and implementation of all departmental activities. She is lucky to lead a dynamic and diverse administrative team who supports the efforts our talented faculty, researchers, collaborators and students.

Noman is the Director of Research Operations in the department.

Alyssa is the Assistant Director of Operations and Administration in the department. In her role, she plays a vital part in managing regulatory compliance for research activities throughout all labs, ensuring that all projects adhere to institutional and governmental guidelines. Additionally, Alyssa helps oversee department communications and administrative functions, helping to streamline operations and support the needs of both staff, researchers and faculty.

Lili Welch is the Executive Assistant to the Chair, supporting Sarah Fortune and the Fortune Lab. Lili manages scheduling and travel arrangements for Dr. Fortune, handles financial corporate card reports, and takes on additional tasks to ensure the smooth operation of the lab and its activities.

As Associate Director of Finance, Ryan leads a finance team of twelve staff. He manages the financial operations crucial to the department’s academic and research endeavors. He oversees budgeting, financial planning, and analysis to ensure efficient resource allocation. His duties include developing financial models, preparing reports for senior leaders, and ensuring compliance with institutional and external funding policies. Ryan also works closely with faculty, researchers, and administrative staff to provide guidance on financial practices, procurement, and grants management.

Outside work, Ryan enjoys spending time with family and his dog, Griffey. His interests include weightlifting, landscaping, watching Pittsburgh sports teams, and endlessly striving for the perfect high-fidelity audio system.

Maura is an Assistant Director of Finance in the department. She provides oversight of the post-award grant management function. In her role, she focuses on faculty financial projections and Sponsor and School compliance.
 

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Jessica Gard works in the finance team for IID. She handles account payable tasks, expense reimbursements, and post-award grant expenses. She also assists with a variety of pre-award and post-award tasks, supplier onboarding, and some account receivable and general ledger tasks. With over 10 years administrative experience across Harvard, she can help with travel policy guidance and other expense related questions, as well as suggest a good caterer or restaurant.

Victoria has joined the IID Department as a Financial Associate.  A Boston native, she comes to the IID Department with a wide range of experience working with federal and international research contracts.
In her free time, Victoria enjoys travelling, nature photography, and pop culture chats.ext

Ben helps managing the respective grant portfolios for Dr. Smita Gopinath and Dr. Abdisalan Noor.  I assist with all aspects of proposal development, administrative forms, sponsor-required certifications, compliance requirements, Buy-2-Pay approvals, Concur approvals, etc. I am also active in my department’s pre-award space, in which I assist various IID Dept. faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and PhD students submit grant applications to government sponsors (the NIH primarily) and private sponsors as well.

Ben is a huge tennis fan!  He picked up the sport at age 8 and continue to play today. With his sister every year he attends the U.S. Open in New York, while with his brother he attends The Dallas Open men’s pro tournament each February.

As a dedicated Grants Manager, I support the Daniel Neafsey Lab and the Infectious and Immunologic Diseases (IID) finance team. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for advancing scientific research, I ensure that funding is efficiently managed and aligned with strategic goals. My role involves overseeing grant applications, monitoring financial compliance, and facilitating communication between researchers and funding bodies.

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Emily is a Senior Grants and Contracts Manager supporting the Corbett and Catteruccia Labs, handling financial projecting, analysis, and both pre-award and post-award processes. Her responsibilities include managing proposal submissions, compliance, financial and programmatic reporting, and subcontract management. Emily also supports the D43 Fogarty training grant led by Drs. Lockman, Shapiro, and Makhema, assisting with financial tracking, wire transfers, and reporting.

Meredith is a senior grant manager in IID supporting Sarah Fortune, Wendy Garrett, and Ryan McNamara. She manages the financial and administrative aspects of their research grant portfolios, provides proposal support for the faculty and lab members, and contributes to ad hoc financial projects for the department and school.

Aakash Suchak is Senior Grants and Contracts Manager for the Department of Immunology & Infectious Diseases. He oversees grant administration and financial planning for the research programs of Professors Eric Rubin, Yonatan Grad, and Phyllis Kanki. Aakash’s responsibilities include budget development, expense forecasting, financial reconciliation, and ensuring compliance with sponsor and University policies. He also brings expertise in managing complex, multi-sponsor awards and international contracts.

Setor Amuzu Worg’s role as a Senior Grant Manager involves providing crucial financial and grant support to the Duraisingh and Wirth lab. By working closely with the principal investigators’ (PI) teams, she helps to ensure smooth operations and contributes significantly to the success of the labs’ research initiatives. Her collaboration not only aids in optimizing financial management but also supports the finance team’s overall effectiveness within the department. This role likely includes tasks such as managing budgets, ensuring compliance with funding requirements, and assisting in the preparation of grant applications and reports, thereby allowing the researchers to focus more on their scientific work.

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Lucia is the Lead Graphic Designer and Scientific Illustrator for the IID department and all its labs. Lucia works closely with faculty members and researchers to produce illustrations and graphical abstracts for scientific journals and publications, visuals for grant applications and presentations, events and symposia posters and customized logos design. Additionally, Lucia manages the IID’s digital presence as the main administrator for the main department website and 14 lab websites.

Joann is the Sr. Academic & Employment Coordinator for IID. In her role, she works with fellowship candidates on their appointments, liaising with the Harvard International Office on visa paperwork, when necessary. She also onboards all new department members and maintains a database that she created to assist with grant applications and provide essential information about staff both past and present.  

As the Regulatory Compliance Coordinator for IID, Claire primarily manages research operations to ensure adherence and compliance with federal, state, and local regulations as well as institutional policies. Claire is involved in several ongoing research projects within IID and serves as the liaison between all faculty, researchers, and staff members, ensuring a unified compliance framework to achieve departmental goals.

I coordinate all academic activities for the IID Dept. like courses, course websites, weekly seminars, and group meetings. I am responsible for logistics,
communications with other academic departments of our school and I also maintain vendor relationships with non-lab related vendors that serve our entire department.
I am lucky enough to serve all of our faculty members and students from many different programs.

Fidan Baycora serves as a faculty staff assistant for Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire and Dr. Smita Gopinath. In this role, she manages faculty calendars, arranges travel logistics, and completes expense reports. Beyond her core tasks, Fidan eagerly fulfills additional administrative roles as required of her.

Haley is the Executive Assistant and Administrative Coordinator for Professor Dyann Wirth, where she plays a pivotal role in ensuring the seamless operation of both Professor Wirth’s initiatives and the Wirth Lab. Haley manages Professor Wirth’s calendar, oversees corporate card reporting, and arranges travel for Professor Wirth, lab members, and esteemed guests. In addition to these responsibilities, she plans and coordinates a variety of lab events and activities, contributing to a collaborative and dynamic research environment.

BlakeLee provides administrative assistance and support to Prof. Catteruccia and her lab. She also acts as a liaison between Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Harvard T.H. Chan School.

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Markella is an administrative and communications assistant who supports Drs. Phyllis Kanki, Manoj Duraisingh, and Wendy Garrett. Tailoring her assistance to each faculty member, Markella organizes schedules and travel, along with writing financial corporate card reports. On the communications team, she creates content for social media and helps manage the department and lab websites.

Wendy Garrett is the Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases in the Departments of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and of Molecular Metabolism at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and also has a Professorship in the Departments of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Garrett pursued an MD and PhD at Yale University. She completed a fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and postdoctoral training at Harvard University Medical School.

Dr. Garrett investigates host-microbiota interactions in health and disease. Her research team studies the interplay between the gastrointestinal immune system and the gut microbiota in health, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). The Garrett lab focuses on how the gut microbiota influence both innate and adaptive populations and the contribution of these cells to immune homeostasis and disease.

Dr. Garrett’s team has identified specific species, pathways, and metabolites made by the microbiota that influence health and disease states. The lab also studies microbes and immune cells that are not only instrumental in potentiating carcinogenesis but are integral to intestinal homeostasis. The multi-faceted research approach includes meta’omics, microbiology, cellular immunology, biochemistry, cell biology, and cancer biology. The lab uses mouse models, human specimens, and primary and transformed mammalian cells and bacterial cells in their experiments in order to move facilel

Larry

Wendy Garrett is the Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases in the Departments of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and of Molecular Metabolism at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and also has a Professorship in the Departments of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Garrett pursued an MD and PhD at Yale University. She completed a fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and postdoctoral training at Harvard University Medical School.

Dr. Garrett investigates host-microbiota interactions in health and disease. Her research team studies the interplay between the gastrointestinal immune system and the gut microbiota in health, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). The Garrett lab focuses on how the gut microbiota influence both innate and adaptive populations and the contribution of these cells to immune homeostasis and disease.

Dr. Garrett’s team has identified specific species, pathways, and metabolites made by the microbiota that influence health and disease states. The lab also studies microbes and immune cells that are not only instrumental in potentiating carcinogenesis but are integral to intestinal homeostasis. The multi-faceted research approach includes meta’omics, microbiology, cellular immunology, biochemistry, cell biology, and cancer biology. The lab uses mouse models, human specimens, and primary and transformed mammalian cells and bacterial cells in their experiments in order to move facilel

Carmen

Wendy Garrett is the Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases in the Departments of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and of Molecular Metabolism at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and also has a Professorship in the Departments of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Garrett pursued an MD and PhD at Yale University. She completed a fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and postdoctoral training at Harvard University Medical School.

Dr. Garrett investigates host-microbiota interactions in health and disease. Her research team studies the interplay between the gastrointestinal immune system and the gut microbiota in health, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). The Garrett lab focuses on how the gut microbiota influence both innate and adaptive populations and the contribution of these cells to immune homeostasis and disease.

Dr. Garrett’s team has identified specific species, pathways, and metabolites made by the microbiota that influence health and disease states. The lab also studies microbes and immune cells that are not only instrumental in potentiating carcinogenesis but are integral to intestinal homeostasis. The multi-faceted research approach includes meta’omics, microbiology, cellular immunology, biochemistry, cell biology, and cancer biology. The lab uses mouse models, human specimens, and primary and transformed mammalian cells and bacterial cells in their experiments in order to move facilel