Mary Allen Staat, MD, MPH

Director, International Adoption Center
Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

mary.staat@cchmc.org
Board Certified

Burnet Campus
Liberty Campus

Make An Appointment

Existing PatientsMyChart Scheduling

AppointmentsCall Us to ScheduleAppointments1-513-636-3200

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

Interests

Epidemiology of enteric infections; surveillance of infectious diseases

Research Areas

Infectious Diseases

Locations (2)

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Burnet Location

Burnet Campus

3333 Burnet Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45229

Liberty Campus

7777 Yankee Rd
Liberty Township, OH 45044

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.

View Insurance Information

Publications

Polymerase Chain Reaction Fails to Detect Mixed Malaria Infections in Siblings from Ethiopia. Hall, AD; Whitehurst, DA; Mortensen, JE; Prus, K; Staat, MA; Schlaudecker, EP; Prasanphanich, NS. Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy. 2025; 31:102777.

Burden of Disease and Spectrum of Illness From Enterovirus-D68 Infections in US Children 0-2 Years of Age From a Longitudinal Community-Based Cohort, 2017-2019. Teoh, Z; Midgley, CM; Conrey, S; Burrell, A; White, B; Mattison, CP; McMorrow, ML; Schlaudecker, EP; Vawter-Lee, M; Morrow, AL; Payne, DC; Staat, MA. Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 2025; 14:piaf057.

Epidemiology and genotypic diversity of rhinovirus in school-age children with acute respiratory illnesses seeking medical care. Banerjee, D; Schuster, JE; Midgley, CM; Lee, B; Moffatt, M; Lively, JY; Toepfer, AP; Weinberg, GA; Boom, JA; Sahni, LC; Sasidharan, A; Rha, B; Harrison, CJ; Selvarangan, R. Journal of Clinical Virology. 2025; 179:105806.

Prevalence of human adenovirus in children with acute gastroenteritis in the New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN) from 2016 to 2019. Kinzler, AJ; Wikswo, ME; Balasubramani, GK; D'Agostino, HE A; Sax, T; Dauer, K; Weinberg, GA; Szilyagi, P; Sahni, LC; Boom, JA; Martin, JM; Hickey, R; Michaels, MG; Williams, JV. Journal of Clinical Virology. 2025; 179:105822.

Adenovirus Species in U.S. Children With Acute Respiratory Illness, 2016-2019. Probst, V; Stopczynski, T; Amarin, JZ; Gailani, A; Rahman, HK; Stewart, LS; Selvarangan, R; Schuster, JE; Michaels, MG; Williams, JV; Gerber, SI; Chappell, JD; Spieker, AJ; Halasa, NB. Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 2025; 14:piaf051.

Acute Gastroenteritis Among Household Contacts of Children with Severe Norovirus Gastroenteritis, United States, 2011-2016. Moran, MC; Wikswo, ME; Selvarangan, R; Harrison, CJ; Sahni, LC; Boom, JA; Halasa, N; Stewart, LS; Payne, DC; Staat, MA; Vinjé, J; Parashar, UD; Tate, JE; Mirza, SA. Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 2025; 14:piaf049.

Neurologic and Psychological Outcomes 2 Years After Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children. Rollins, CK; Wypij, D; Zambrano, LD; Calderon, J; Taylor, AM; Worhach, J; Rodriguez, S; Licht, PA; Maiman, M; Hart, N; Mazumdar, M; Newburger, JW; Randolph, AG; Campbell, AP. JAMA Network Open. 2025; 8:e2512487.

Antiviral Prescription in Children With Influenza in US Emergency Departments: New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN), 2016-2020. Stopczynski, T; Amarin, J; Antoon, J; Hamdan, O; Stewart, L; Chappell, J; Spieker, A; Klein, E; Englund, J; Weinberg, G; Toepfer, A; Campbell, A; Olson, S; Halasa, N. Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses. 2025; 19:e70124.

Enterovirus D68-Associated Respiratory Illness in Children. Clopper, BR; Lopez, AS; Goldstein, LA; Ng, TF F; Toepfer, AP; Staat, MA; Schlaudecker, EP; Sahni, LC; Boom, JA; Schuster, JE; Englund, JA; McMorrow, ML; Moline, HL; Midgley, CM. JAMA Network Open. 2025; 8:e259131.

Interim Evaluation of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Hospitalization Rates Among Infants and Young Children After Introduction of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Prevention Products - United States, October 2024-February 2025. Patton, ME; Moline, HL; Whitaker, M; Tannis, A; Pham, H; Toepfer, AP; Taylor, CA; Goldstein, L; Reingold, A; Kirley, PD; Selvarangan, R; Szilagyi, PG; Havers, FP; Dawood, FS. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2025; 74:273-281.