Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, RUSH Medical College
Director, Division of Clinical Microbiology, RUSH Medical Laboratories
The James R. Lowenstine Professor of Internal Medicine, RUSH Medical College
Professor, Department of Pathology, RUSH Medical College
Mary K. Hayden, MD, is the James Lowenstine Professor of Medicine and a professor of pathology at RUSH Medical College. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of emerging pathogens, healthcare associated infections, and antibiotic resistance. Recent projects have investigated the genomic epidemiology and control of carbapanemase-producing Enterobacterales and Candida auris in long-term care facilities and across regions, and delineation of factors associated with transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare settings. She has served on federal public health advisory committees including the CDC Healthcare Infection Control and Prevention Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and the Board of Scientific Counselors for the CDC Office of Infectious Diseases.
Co-PI, Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory
Director, Genomics & Microbiome Core Facility
Director of Core Laboratory Services
Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Stefan J. Green, PhD’s research is focused on the interaction of complex microbial communities with hosts across a range of experimental and diseases systems. He has a broad background in microbial ecology and molecular biology, with an emphasis on the acquisition and analysis of next-generation sequence data from biological systems. As Co-Principal Investigator of RIPHL, a public-academic partnership between RUSH University and the Chicago Department of Public Health, his laboratory performs surveillance and outbreak sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 genomes from viral transport medium. Previously, Green was director of the Genome Research Core at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
Genomic Epidemiologist, Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory
Hannah Barbian, PhD’s scientific training and interest are in molecular virology and and pathogen genomics. She received her PhD in molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania with past research focused on the genomic fate of viruses upon transmission, immune pressure, and chronic infection. Since joining RIPHL as a genomic epidemiologist in October 2021, she performs genomic analyses as part of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogen genomic surveillance, including outbreak investigation and identifying variants and mutations of interest. Barbian has expertise on the topics of pathogen next-generation sequencing, genotyping, and phylogenetic, mutational, evolutionary, and bioinformatic analyses.
Data Analyst, Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory
Sofiya Bobrovska’s areas of interest include infectious diseases and environmental health. She earned an MPH in Epidemiology from University of Illinois Chicago and a BS in Integrative Biology from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Bobrovska joined RIPHL as a data analyst in August 2021. She organizes SARS-CoV-2 specimen intake, guides partnerships, and works with Hannah Barbian and the Chicago Department of Public Health to perform analysis on genomic data.
Laboratory Manager, Genomics & Microbiome Core Facility and Regional Innovative Public Health Laboratory
Kevin Kunstman has 30+ years of experience as a molecular biologist and molecular virologist, with laboratory experience at the BSL3 level. His specialties include Next Generation library prep, sequence data acquisition and analysis, real time PCR, and sequence capture for sequencing. He is responsible for NGS DNA sequencing services, including consultations, study design, DNA library prep, sequencing, and data analyses. Kunstman came to RUSH in January of 2021 to establish the Genomics and Microbiome Core Facility. Previously he was the Assistant Director at the UIC Genome Research Core.