Current Members

Dr. Chris Vitek

Dr. Chris Vitek

Associate Professor

Dr. Vitek got his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology at Drew University in Madison, NJ in 1993. He followed that with his Ph.D. in biology from Clark University in Worcester, MA in 2004. His dissertation research focused on phenotypic plasticity in mosquitoes. Following graduation, Dr. Vitek worked as a postdoctoral associate at the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach, FL on an NIH funded project to examine field and laboratory transmission of West Nile virus in Florida. Dr. Vitek was hired as an assistant professor of Biology at the University of Texas Pan American (now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) in 2008.

Dr. Vitek’s current research focuses on vector ecology, disease transmission, and surveillance. He and his students have conducted multiple field and laboratory studies on the ecology and behavior of mosquitoes as well as other vectors including ticks, assassin bugs and vectors of plant diseases. He is interested in addressing how environmental and ecological factors may influence vector abundance, dispersal, feeding, and disease transmission. In addition, Dr. Vitek has a robust and active student research group, with multiple graduate and undergraduate students engaged in hands-on research activities.

Email:

christopher.vitek@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-2845

Dr. Beatriz Tapia

Dr. Beatriz Tapia

Assistant Dean of Faculty Development, South Texas Environmental Education and Research

Beatriz Tapia, M.D., M.P.H., C.P.H, is the Director of STEER and Course Director for the Environmental Medicine/Border Health Elective. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Assistant Dean of Faculty Development at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Harlingen, Texas. Dr. Tapia is a native of Chicago, Illinois. She attended the Autonomous University of Puebla in Mexico, where she received her M.D., and the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University (JHSPH), in Baltimore, Maryland, where she received her Master’s in Public Health. In addition to her M.P.H., Dr. Tapia trained in occupational health and environmental medicine, health disparities and health inequality at the JHSPH. Dr. Tapia is also currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Professional Leadership with an Emphasis in Health Science Education from the University of Houston.

She is active in numerous border health organizations, and is currently appointed the U.S. co-facilitator of the environmental health subcommittee for the Gulf Taskforce of the United States – México Border Health Commission- Border 2020 (formally Border 2012). She also served on the expert advisory group for Border 2012, which was charged with updating a training module of the Physician’s Guide to Pesticide Poisoning for border physicians.

Dr. Tapia is a strong advocate for the medically underserved; she continuously provides environmental and public health education to promotoras (lay healthcare workers), public health professionals and community centers. Her research interests are border health, environmental medicine, public health, minority health and medical education research.

Email:

beatriz.tapia@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 296-1481

Dr. John VandeBerg

Dr. John VandeBerg

School of Medicine Professor

Dr. VandeBerg received a B.S. degree in genetics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He then went to Australia as a Fulbright Scholar and received a B.S. Honors degree from La Trobe University in Melbourne, and a Ph.D. degree from Macquarie University in Sydney. All of his degrees were in genetics. After postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, he moved to the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio in 1980, where he developed several large research programs and served in various administrative capacities, including Founding Chair of the Department of Genetics, Founding Director of the Southwest National Primate Research Center, and Chief Scientific Officer of the institution. He moved to The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in December, 2014. He is a Professor in the South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute and in the Department of Human Genetics of the School of Medicine.

Dr. VandeBerg conducts research on infectious diseases (Chagas disease, and diseases caused by Zika virus and other flaviviruses), as well as on common chronic diseases (hyperlipemia and atherosclerosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and diabetes). His research projects involve human subjects and animal models, particularly the laboratory opossum (Monodelphis domestica), for which he has developed 20 inbred strains and genetic stocks. The laboratory opossum is susceptible to these and other human diseases. Unlike normal immunocompetent mice, normal laboratory opossums can be easily infected with flaviviruses and can become chronic carriers. Moreover, since the pups are born at the developmental stage of a 6-week human embryo and can be easily manipulated experimentally at this stage, large-scale experimental manipulations can be conducted economically for research on their effects on embryonic growth and development (for example, after intra-cranial inoculation of Zika virus)

Email:

john.vandeberg@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-6404

Dr. Erin Schuenzel

Dr. Erin Schuenzel

Associate Professor

Dr. Schuenzel current research in her lab include population structures of foreign and emergent pathogenic bacteria. Several of the bacteria currently under study include Candidatus Liberibacter ssp., Xylella fastidiosa, Xanthomonas campestris, Acidovorax avenae and Pseudomonas syringae. Multiple strains of the bacteria are analyzed at several genetic loci to understand how the strains are related to each other using bioinformatic techniques. Additionally, the population Structures of Plant Pathogens and Insect Pests are also being researched. Plant pathogens are not restricted to bacteria and current work is also examining the genetics of invasive insect pathogens including fruit flies from the family Tephritidae and the Asian gypsy moth, Lymantira dispar. The comparative genomics of bacteria is part of her research. With large numbers of bacterial genomes available, the ability to ask questions and test hypotheses on genome evolution is more accessible than ever. Her current research is focusing on the role of natural selection in host adaptation, the effects of host immune response on bacterial pathogen evolution, the rate of recombination in genomes, and the effects of inversions on gene expression. While bacteria are the main focus of the lab, we are open to asking the same questions on other organisms such as population.

Her areas of interest are Bacterial and Fungal Microbiomes.

Email:

erin.schuenzel@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-2229

Dr. Teresa Feria

Dr. Teresa Feria

Associate Professor

Dr. Tereasa Feria Arroyo joined the UTPA Biology Department as an Assistant Professor in 2008. She earned both her B.S. in Biology with honors (1997) and an M.S. in Animal Biology (2001) from The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She completed a doctoral degree in Biology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (2007) and subsequently finished two post-doctoral appointments (Missouri Botanical Garden-Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development and UNAM, Mexico) before coming to UTPA, former founding university of UTRGV. Her research focuses on global change ecology. Her lines of research are related to endangered, invasive, and vector borne disease species.

Dr. Feria's research interest focuses on Global Change Ecology. Her lines of research include (1) Vector-Borne diseases, (2) invasive species, and (3) endangered species. She is one of the founders of the UTRGV Center for Vector-Borne Disease; she has received 26 grants to develop research and has published 29 research papers and eight book chapters. She published two scientific reports and presented over 60 oral and poster presentations in national and international scientific conferences and for general audiences as part of outreach programs. She serves as a mentor for high school, undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. students. She received the Provost’s International Studies Award (2011) followed by the Excellence in Teaching Award from the College of Science and Mathematics (2012). During the summer of 2013, she was a recipient of a USDA Kika de la Garza Science Fellowship. She's also a member of the National Researchers System (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores) in Mexico. In the spring of 2018, she received the prestigious Outstanding International Faculty Female award at UTRGV, the Excellence Award in Community Engagement at the college level, the Excellence Award in Community Engaged Scholarship at the university level, and was selected as Fred W. and Frances H. Rusteberg Endowed Professor. She serves in multiple committees in the Biology Department, College of Science, UTRGV, and other professional organizations. She has also served as the Chair of the Women’s Faculty Network during the academic year of 2018-2019. In the fall of 2019, she was selected as an International Fellow by the Division of Research, Graduate Studies, and New Programs at UTRGV.

Email:

teresa.feriaarroyo@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-7322

Dr. Tamer Oraby

Dr. Tamer Oraby

Assistant Professor

Dr. Tamer Oraby is an assistant professor of statistics in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He joined UTRGV in 2014.

Dr. Oraby received his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati in Mathematical Sciences in 2008. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa in 2008 through 2012 and the University of Guelph from 2012 through 2013. He worked as an assistant professor (educator) at the University of Cincinnati (2013-2014) and has a strong passion for teaching and research. He works on statistical and mathematical modeling in epidemiology, environment, and biology. He has published 24 papers in some of the highest ranked journals, such as Scientific Reports, Proceeding of the Royal Society B, and Lancet. He also published three book chapters and in the summer of 2018, he directed the Mathematical Association of America’s National Research Experience for Undergraduate Program (MAA NREUP) at UTRGV.

Email:

tamer.oraby@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-3536

Dr. John Thomas

Dr. John Thomas

Assistant Professor

Dr. John Thomas got his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 2001 and followed it with an MS degree in 2002, both from The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he studied arbovirus genetics and vaccine design. He received his Ph.D. from The University of Texas – Medical Branch in 2008. His dissertation research focused on the pathology of select agents (B. anthracis, Y. pestis, and F. tularensis) in small animal models of infection. Following graduation, he worked as a postdoctoral guest researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, Colorado, studying the genetics of equine encephalitis viruses (VEE and WEE). He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher for two years at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, where he studied the efficacy of novel human antibodies as antivirals against hemorrhagic fever viruses in animal models of infection. Following the completion of his postdoctoral training, he worked for a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company for three years as a lead researcher for novel vaccine design. He was hired as an assistant professor in the Biology department in 2014 at The University of Texas-Pan American (now The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). He also served as the module Co-Director for Attack and Defense at the UTRGV School of Medicine from 2015 through 2018.

His current research focuses on characterizing viral pathogenesis using a novel animal model of infection, commonly known as the laboratory opossum (M. domestica). His primary focus is on flaviviruses such as Zika and Dengue virus, as well as other etiological agents of interest that circulate in south Texas (West Nile virus, Chikungunya virus, St. Louis Encephalitis virus, and Western Equine Encephalitis virus). In addition to studying the pathology of arboviruses, his laboratory also works on providing diagnostic support for local and state testing efforts for arboviruses and tick/flea-borne rickettsial diseases, as well as examining the historical precedence for such disease in south Texas. He also works closely with Dr. Vitek in support of his research involving transmission dynamics of arboviruses in mosquitoes. He has an active research laboratory, with numerous study projects under the direct supervision of graduate students.

Email:

john.thomas@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-7147

Dr. Robin Choudhury

Dr. Robin Choudhury

Assistant Professor

Dr. Choudhury is currently an assistant professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he started in September of 2019. His lab focuses on fungal pathogens that impact crops, and strategies to improve sustainable agriculture, such as biological control strategies. He is also interested in the ecology of emerging pathogens across landscapes, understanding how they disrupt native and agricultural systems, and how climatic factors impact their severity. He's interested in how we can mitigate the risk of introductions of new pathogens through trade, how cover crops and land use can impact disease risk on agronomically important crops, and how insect-plant-fungal interactions can drive population dynamics of both pathogenic and non-pathogenic microbes.

Before joining UTRGV, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Florida working with Dr. Karen Garrett. He researched the epidemiology of laurel wilt disease, an invasive beetle-vectored disease that has destroyed both native and agricultural hosts. Using simulation models based on network analyses to predict how human behavior at local and regional scales would affect the outcome of disease progression. Prior to his time at UF, he was a graduate student with Dr. Neil McRoberts at UC Davis, where he studied the spatio-temporal dynamics and control strategies for spinach downy mildew in coastal California. Before working with McRoberts, he worked on his master’s degree with Dr. Doug Gubler developing disease forecasting models for grapevine powdery mildew. His bachelor’s degree is in Plant Sciences from University of Maryland.

Email:

robin.choudhury@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-8810

Dr. George Yanev

Dr. George Yanev

Professor

Dr. George Yanev received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mathematics from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria. He also completed a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 2001 he defended a Ph.D. Dissertation in Statistics at the University of South Florida at Tampa. His dissertation research focused on modeling the propagation of communicable diseases through stochastic processes and Bayesian parameter estimation. He also has a postdoctoral study at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. He joined UTPA (the legacy institution of UTRGV) in 2008. He became a full Professor at the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences in 2018. Since Fall 2020, he is the Program Coordinator for the M.S. program in Applied Statistics and Data Science at UTRGV.

His area of expertise includes applied probability and statistics. He has published in the field of branching stochastic processes and their applications for the last 30 years. These are mathematical models of the spread of disease on given populations built for understanding disease propagation; and, predicting the future extension of an outbreak, its extinction time, and evaluating the efficiency of some control measures. Recently, he's been collaborating with the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Citrus Center in Weslaco on detecting and controlling certain citrus diseases.

Email:

george.yanev@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-3632

Dr. Nirakar Sahoo

Assistant Professor

Dr. Nirakar Sahoo began his research career in protein biochemistry to investigate the role of pathogenic "Plasmodium falciparum" protein in brain malaria. He gained extensive knowledge regarding how proteins are involved in pathogenicity and their role in parasite physiology and human pathophysiology. Since 2006, he has been devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of several proteins and has gained extensive experience in ion channel resarch for over 15 years. Dr. Sahoo received his Phd.D. in Biochemistry and Physiology in 2011 from the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena under the mentorship of Prof. Stefan H. Heinemann. During his doctoral and postdoctoral work at the University of Jena, Germany, he published 11 research articles, including a high-impack paper in PNAS. Dr. Sahoo continued his postdoctoral training on cell and organellar physiology in Dr. Haoxing Xu's laboratory at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. While working in Xu's lab, he investigated the role of organellar ion channels in health and disease. He was the first person to perform patch-clamp recording on gastric tubulovesicle membrane in mice gastric parietal cells.

Since September 2018, Dr. Sahoo has been a faculty member in the Department of Biology at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His researvch work is focused on the study of organelle ion channels and transporters and understanding their role in human, plant and insect physiology and pathophysiology. His laboratory uses several techniques such as Electrophysiology (lysosome patch-clamp and parietal cell tubulovesicle patch-clamp), calcium imaging, ion channel pharmacology, mouse genetics, and cell biology to unravel the function of these organelle ion channels. He intends to utlize these skills to understand the role of ion channels in diverse species, including plants, animals, insects, and bacteria.

Email:

nirakar.sahoo@utrgv.edu

Phone:

(956) 665-5361

Dr. Sarah Maestas

Dr. Sarah Maestas

Assistant Professor

Dr. Sarah Mays Maestas received her PhD from the University of Florida with an emphasis in Medical and Veterinary Entomology and conducted postdoctoral research at Texas A&M University before joining the UTRGV School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences. Dr. Mays Maestas’s research background is in zoonotic, vector-borne disease ecology, particularly focusing on tick and flea-borne pathogens. The focus of her dissertation work was understanding drivers of variation in ectoparasite and vector-borne pathogen communities in urban and rural habitats and investigating tick collection from feral swine as a tick and tick-borne pathogen surveillance tool. Her postdoctoral research included investigations of host and pathogen associations of soft tick species in south Texas.

Dr. Mays Maestas’s current research focuses heavily on vector, host, and pathogen relationships; specifically, the role of native and introduced wildlife species as tick hosts and pathogen reservoirs and environmental factors affecting tick and pathogen abundance. Her work includes collaborative efforts with the USDA Cattle Fever Tick Research Unit; both undergraduate and graduate students in her laboratory are involved in collaborative research to investigate biological control options for cattle fever tick management and better understand environmental variables affecting cattle fever tick abundance. Additional research efforts include investigating vectors and reservoir hosts of pathogens affecting companion animal health in the RGV.

Email:

sarah.maestas@utrgv.edu

Dr. Andrea Contina

Dr. Andrea Contina

Assistant Professor

Dr. Andrea Contina received his PhD from the University of Oklahoma in Animal Biology and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado and the University of Texas at Austin before joining the School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences (UTRGV - Brownsville Campus). His work has resulted in over 30 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals, contributing to advancements in Ornithology, Ecology, and the emerging field of Movement Ecology. Dr. Contina explores research questions related to avian migratory connectivity, species resilience, and he conducts mark-recapture studies across the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Moreover, Dr. Contina engages in innovative research by adopting modern research tools, including machine learning and molecular methods such as stable isotopes and genetics.

While at the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Contina has developed an upper-level course to explore the links between animal movement and zoonotic disease risks. Since then, Dr. Contina has developed agent-based models (ABMs) to simulate continental-scale animal movements in relation to avian influenza outbreaks in migratory bird populations across North America and Asia. This research provides a strong analytical framework for simulating long-distance animal movements in the context of environmental change, with direct applications to avian influenza risk assessment. His involvement in disease ecology is expected to continue in the coming years, driven by renewed interest and urgency in studying zoonotic diseases linked to avian migration.

Google Scholar

Contina Lab

Email:

andrea.contina@utrgv.edu

Center for Vector-Borne, Zoonotic, and Emerging Diseases College of Sciences

Current Members