Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH
- Director, International Adoption Center
- Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
- mary.staat@cchmc.org
- Board Certified
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, Texas, 1986-1989; Preventive Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., 1990-1994.
Fellowship: Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 1989-1990; Epidemiology, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, Md., 1990-1993.
Certification: Pediatrics, 1989; Preventive Medicine, 1996; Pediatric Infectious Diseases, 1999.
Interests
Helicobacter pylori; rotavirus epidemiology; travel medicine; infectious diseases of international adoptees
Services and Specialties
Infectious Diseases, International Adoption
Interests
Epidemiology of enteric infections; surveillance of infectious diseases
Research Areas
Infectious Diseases
Locations (2)
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.
Publications
On-time childhood vaccination before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in seven communities: Findings from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network. Vaccine. 2024; 42:126455.
Underutilization of Influenza Antiviral Treatment Among Children and Adolescents at Higher Risk for Influenza-Associated Complications - United States, 2023-2024. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2024; 73:1022-1029.
Safety of Simultaneous vs Sequential mRNA COVID-19 and Inactivated Influenza Vaccines: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA network open. 2024; 7:e2443166.
Evaluation of a Modified Vesikari Severity Score as a Research Tool for Assessing Pediatric Acute Gastroenteritis. Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 2024; 13:547-550.
Early Formula Supplementation Differs by Maternal Body Mass Index but Does Not Explain Breastfeeding Outcomes in Mothers Who Intend to Exclusively Breastfeed. Current Developments in Nutrition. 2024; 8:104472.
Rotavirus Vaccine Effectiveness Against Severe Acute Gastroenteritis: 2009-2022. Pediatrics. 2024; 154:e2024066879.
Correlates of Rotavirus Vaccine Shedding and Seroconversion in a US Cohort of Healthy Infants. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2024; 230:754-762.
Pre-existing Immunocompromising Conditions and Outcomes of Acute COVID-19 Patients Admitted for Pediatric Intensive Care. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2024; 79:395-404.
Molecular mimicry in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Nature. 2024; 632:622-629.
Medical Costs of Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Associated Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits in Children Aged Younger Than 5 Years: Observational Findings from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network, 2016-2019. The Journal of Pediatrics. 2024; 271:114045.
From the Blog
It’s Safe to Give COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccines Together
Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH, Elizabeth P. Schlaudecker, MD, MPH11/18/2024
Why COVID-19 Tends to be Less Severe in Young Children
Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH10/13/2023
Vaccine ‘Highly Effective’ in Preventing Adolescent COVID-19 Hospitalization
Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH10/21/2021
$30M Grant Fuels Hunt for Universal Flu Vaccine
Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH7/3/2019
The PREVAIL Cincinnati Birth Cohort: Breastfeeding and Sleep Analysis
Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH7/3/2019
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