Faculty
Faculty Directors
Dr. Michael Z. David
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine - Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics
Dr. David is a practicing infectious diseases physician. He has focused his research for more than a decade on the clinical and molecular epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus infections. Current research addresses risk factors for recurrent S. aureus infections and understanding the spread of S. aureus in healthcare facilities. He has a deep interest in the history of infectious diseases, which led him to pursue a PhD in history during medical school. He is the Director of the Skin Infection Clinic in the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Co-Director of the Microbiology Course for first-year medical students.
Dr. Nawar Naseer
Director of Engagement, Penn Medicine BioBank
Nawar Naseer, PhD, MPH is the Director of Engagement for the Penn Medicine BioBank, where she oversees researcher and patient-participant engagement with the BioBank. Nawar also serves as teaching faculty in the Penn MPH program, and consults for the Development Research Initiative as a content matter expert.
Prior to her current role, Nawar supported Philadelphia and Penn’s response to COVID-19. She designed and implemented a county-wide COVID-19 contact tracing program, training and supervising a team of over 100 contact tracers in Spring 2020. She subsequently trained a team of vaccine ambassadors to increase awareness and knowledge about COVID-19 in West and Southwest Philadelphia. Nawar believes in empowering people with knowledge so that they can make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.
Nawar holds a BA in Biology from Bryn Mawr College, PhD in Microbiology and Master of Public Health from the University of Pennsylvania.
Staff
Candace Cain
Coordinator
candace.cain@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Candace Cain is the Career Development Coordinator for Biomedical Graduate Studies (BGS) at the Perelman School of Medicine. Candace keeps track of students in the certificate programs (Community-Engaged STEM, Graduate Training in Medical Science, and Public Health) and is the contact person for admission into any of these programs.