Maya Nadimpalli, Ph.D., M.S.

Dr. Maya Nadimpalli is an Assistant Professor in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health. Her training is in environmental microbiology, epidemiology, and community-based research. She uses genomic and epidemiological approaches to understand how exposures to food, animals, and the environment can impact human colonization and infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, particularly in low-resource settings. She is especially interested in investigating whether WASH interventions at the human-animal interface, including along the food value chain and in fresh food markets, might be effective at preventing the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens between humans and animals. Other ongoing work is focused on the role of breastfeeding in protecting children against gut colonization with drug-resistant pathogens in high-exposure settings, and identifying racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in the burden of antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States and globally.

She has previously led research studies in rural North Carolina, Southeast Asia, and Peru. Currently, she is leading community-based work in Atlanta to investigate neighborhood-level differences in the burden of antibiotic resistance through wastewater surveillance, and is leading a project in Mozambique to examine changes in the poultry microbiome and resistome from farm to market. Dr. Nadimpalli is also interested in science writing and communication and has led courses and workshops on communication strategies for college students, high school students, and academic researchers.