Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH

Director, International Adoption Center
Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

mary.staat@cchmc.org
Board Certified

Liberty Campus
Burnet Campus

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About

Biography

I specialize in infectious diseases, international adoption and travel medicine. As a physician, I have a desire to help prevent, treat and cure infections in children. Dr. Arthur Frank, a preventive medicine specialist, inspired me to consider public health as a career. Drs. Larry Pickering and Ralph Feigin encouraged me to provide clinical care and pursue research in pediatrics.

My research involves the epidemiology of contagions in children. For instance, I am very interested in learning when children are infected with certain pathogens, how the infection impacts them, and how their immune system responds to it. To uncover answers to our questions, we perform surveillance and cohort studies in mothers and babies.

Our research goals are to better understand and identify the immune response to the flu in babies who were exposed to influenza for the first time either from a natural infection or from the flu vaccine. By understanding this response, we hope to develop a universal influenza vaccine.

I thought we only had part of the story with certain pathogens and that we only knew the typical presentation or researched the children with the most relentless symptoms. I was curious to answer these questions: Why do some children get an infection and have mild symptoms, while others may die from that same infection? Why do some children have a good response to a vaccine and others do not? I wanted to get the whole story via my research studies.

My colleagues and I are thankful for families who participate in our studies and help us learn how to prevent infections in the future. We are truly passionate about the research we are pursuing.

Our team has been awarded a large Cooperative Agreement grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to assess influenza in a maternal infant cohort in Cincinnati and Mexico City. Also, I was named Kulkarni Endowed Chair of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

My research has been published in various respected journals, including American Journal of Infection Control, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Pediatrics International, and Pediatric Blood and Cancer.

MD: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 1986

MPH: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1991

Residency: Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 1989

Residency: Preventive Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 1994

Fellowship: Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 1990

Fellowship: Epidemiology, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, MD, 1993

Certifications: Pediatrics, 1989; Preventive Medicine, 1996; Pediatric Infectious Diseases, 1999

Interests

Helicobacter pylori; rotavirus epidemiology; travel medicine; infectious diseases of international adoptees

Services and Specialties

Interests

Epidemiology of enteric infections; surveillance of infectious diseases

Research Areas

Infectious Diseases

Locations (2)

Liberty Campus

7777 Yankee Rd
Liberty Township, OH 45044

Burnet Campus

3333 Burnet Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45229

Insurance Information

Cincinnati Children's strives to accept a wide variety of health plans. Please contact your health insurance carrier to verify coverage for your specific benefit plan.

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Publications

Optimizing the sensitivity of detection of respiratory syncytial virus infections in longitudinal studies using the combination of weekly sample testing and biannual serology. Conrey, SC; Payne, DC; Leon, MD; Epperson, M; Coughlin, MM; Burrell, AR; Mattison, CP; Burke, RM; Baker, JM; Thornburg, NJ; Mcmorrow, ML; Staat, MA; Morrow, AL. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2026; 195(6):1605-1614.

Natural maternal immunity protects neonates from Escherichia coli sepsis. Diep, RE; Adhikari, U; Gokce Tezel, K; Pham, G; Burrell, AR; Staat, MA; Nhu, NTK; Phan, M-D; Peters, KM; Schembri, MA; Saunders, SH; Haslam, DB; Erickson, JJ; Chavez-Bueno, S; Way, SS. Nature. 2026; 653(8114):519-527.

Pediatric Vaccine Effectiveness Against Influenza Hospitalization and Outpatient Visits: 2021-2024. Olson, SM; Ahmad, HM; Wielgosz, K; Michaels, MG; Williams, JV; Englund, JA; Klein, EJ; Staat, MA; Schlaudecker, EP; Weinberg, GA; Kirby, MK; Toepfer, AP; Moline, HL; Ellington, S. Pediatrics. 2026; 157(5).

Enteric Viral Pathogens in Infants in the United States: 2017-2020. Cannon, JL; Baker, JM; Mattison, CP; Browne, H; Nguyen, K; Burke, RM; Mijatovic-Rustempasic, S; Casey-Moore, MC; Gautam, R; Bartlett, E; Payne, DC; Staat, MA; Morrow, AL; Vinjé, J. Pediatrics. 2026; 157(5).

Interim Estimates of 2025-26 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness - United States, September 2025-February 2026. Maloney, P; Reeves, EL; Wielgosz, K; Price, AM; Natarajan, K; Desilva, MB; Dascomb, K; Klein, NP; Tartof, SY; Irving, SA; Flannery, B; Reed, C; Garg, S; Ellington, S. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2026; 75(9):116-123.

Rotavirus-specific IgA and IgG Patterns During the First Two Years of Life in the PREVAIL Birth Cohort. Baker, JM; Mijatovic-Rustempasic, S; Casey-Moore, MC; White, B; Mattison, CP; Burke, RM; Conrey, SC; Morrow, AL; Payne, DC; Gautam, R; Parashar, UD; Tate, JE; Staat, MA; Mcneal, MM. Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2026.

Effectiveness and Impact of Maternal RSV Immunization and Nirsevimab on Medically Attended RSV in US Children. Moline, HL; Tannis, A; Goldstein, L; Englund, JA; Staat, MA; Boom, JA; Selvarangan, R; Michaels, MG; Weinberg, GA; Halasa, NB; Payne, DC; Klein, EJ; Szilagyi, PG; Dawood, FS. JAMA pediatrics. 2026; 180(3):314-324.

Characteristics of Young Children Hospitalized With Acute Respiratory Failure From Infection With Respiratory Syncytial Virus, SARS-CoV-2, or Both, November 2023-March 2024. Simeone, RM; Newhams, MM; Zambrano, LD; Calixte, JM; Lindsey, K; Orzel-Lockwood, A; Payne, AB; Halasa, NB; Kamidani, S; Maddux, AB; Bradford, TT; Wellnitz, K; Campbell, AP; Randolph, AG. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2026; 13(3):ofag088.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus Co-Detection With Other Respiratory Viruses Is Not Significantly Associated With Worse Clinical Outcomes Among Children Aged <2 Years: New Vaccine Surveillance Network, 2016-2020. Amarin, JZ; Toepfer, AP; Spieker, AJ; Hayek, H; Stopczynski, T; Qwaider, YZ; Stewart, LS; Chappell, JD; Staat, MA; Schlaudecker, EP; Avadhanula, V; Mcmorrow, ML; Moline, HL; Halasa, NB. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2026; 82(2):358-365.

Immunogenicity of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with either simultaneous or sequentially administered inactivated influenza vaccines: a randomized clinical trial. Walter, EB; Schlaudecker, EP; Talaat, KR; Rountree, W; Broder, KR; Duffy, J; Montefiori, D; Poniewierski, MS; Spreng, RL; Staat, MA; Tekalign, R; Museru, O; Goel, A; Davis, GN; Schmader, KE. Vaccine. 2026; 72:128072.