professional portrait

Syracuse University Falk College Public Health
430D Barclay
Syracuse, New York  13244

315-443-1541
blkmush@syr.edu

CV  (PDF)

Brittany Kmush

Ph.D.,
Associate Professor

Professor Kmush received her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her dissertation was entitled, “Risk factors for antibody loss after Hepatitis E virus natural infection and vaccination.” She earned a master of science in infectious disease epidemiology from the Bloomberg School at Johns Hopkins University and holds a bachelor of science in biochemistry from the University of Rochester where she graduated cum laude. Her areas of specialization include epidemiology, global health, infectious diseases, vaccines, nutrition, immunology and environmental exposures particularly within the context of risks for infectious diseases, and Hepatitis E virus. In addition to a series of graduate research assistantships at Johns Hopkins, she was a student investigator at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, Dhaka, Bangladesh and the National Institute for Diagnosis and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China where she Implemented a study examining the persistence of antibodies after hepatitis E virus infection. Her professional portfolio includes participation on numerous research grants, including an award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she was a student investigator on the project, “Determinants of Immunological Persistence of Hepatitis E Virus Antibodies.” The purpose of the study was to determine antibody persistence after Hepatitis e virus and vaccination in South Asia.

Education

Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University

Specialization

Epidemiology, global health, infectious diseases, vaccines, nutrition, immunology and environmental exposures particularly within the context of risks for infectious diseases, and Hepatitis E virus.

Research Projects

Hepatitis E Vaccine Progress Roadmap: Identifying the policy, technical, and manufacturing gaps preventing prequalification and wide scale use of the Hepatitis E Vaccine. Hepatitis E Virus Epidemiology: Several on-going research projects to examine the epidemiology of hepatitis E virus in Asia and South America, including risk factors for infection and antibody persistence after infection. Establishing an In Vitro Embryotoxicity Risk Classification System Based on Human Cardiac Organoid Model: Using a 3-dimenstional of human heart tissue to classify the potential embryotoxicity of various drugs that could be taken during pregnancy. Develop a statistical model to classify pharmaceutical agents into different embryo-toxic profiles. Cause of Death, Longevity, and career statistical characteristics among former NFL players: An empirical analysis using categorical and survival models: Examine the association between repetitive head impacts and cause of death among elite, professional football players. Logistic Regression Analysis of Reported Concussion Risk among NCAA FBS Football Players: Examining risk factors for reported concussions among elite, college football players. SARS-Cov-2 Early Warning Wastewater Surveillance Platform: Examines the feasibility of using wastewater surveillance to monitor the transmission patterns of SARS-CoV-2 in communities. The Association of Cultural Identity Traits with Adherence to COVID-19 prevention behaviors: Examining where on the spectrum of individualism versus collectivism COVID-19 prevention behavior falls and the association between reported adherence to COVID-19 prevention behaviors (social distancing, mask use, hand washing etc.) during the early part of the pandemic. The association between gender equity and maternal health outcomes in East Africa: Using the Demographic Health Surveys to examine the association between markers of gender equality and maternal health.

Statistical Expertise

Generalized linear models (linear regression, logistic regression, Poisson regression), model development, multi-level modeling, STATA, Excel.

Recent Publications

  • Kmush, B. L., Lu, A. M., Spillane, T., Hruska, B., Gump, B. B., & Bendinskas, K. G. (2021). Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus antibodies in adults and children from upstate New York: A cross-sectional study. Plos one, 16(1), e0245850.
  • Larsen, D., Kmush, B., Asiago-Reddy, E., Dinero, R. E., Church, R. L., Khan, S., ... & Narine, L. (2020). An analysis of policy decisions to combat SARS-CoV-2 transmission: comparing the available evidence and policies of public face masking to social distancing (No. gnk5a). Center for Open Science.
  • Walia, B., Kmush, B., Sanders, S., Ehrlich, J. (2020). Age at league entry, ability, and mortality among former NFL athletes. APHA's 2020 VIRTUAL Annual Meeting and Expo (Oct. 24 - 28).
  • Salmon, K., Shin, D., Kmush, B., Wallia, B., Bellows, A., & Larsen, D. (2020). Evidence of Declining Dietary Diversity Among Children Aged 1–5 Years Between 2005 and 2017 in Lower-Income Countries. Current Developments in Nutrition, 4(Supplement_2), 561-561.
  • Kmush, B. L., Mackowski, M., Ehrlich, J., Walia, B., Owora, A., & Sanders, S. (2020). Association of professional football cumulative head impact index scores with all-cause mortality among National Football League players. JAMA network open, 3(5), e204442-e204442.
  • Larsen, D., Dinero, R., Asiago-Reddy, E., Green, H., Lane, S., Shaw, A., ... & Kmush, B. (2020). A review of infectious disease surveillance to inform public health action against the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
  • Wang, S., Green, H. C., Wilder, M. L., Du, Q., Kmush, B. L., Collins, M. B., ... & Zeng, T. (2020). High-throughput wastewater analysis for substance use assessment in central New York during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 22(11), 2147-2161.
  • Green, H., Wilder, M., Middleton, F. A., Collins, M., Fenty, A., Gentile, K., ... & Larsen, D. A. (2020). Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 and cross-assembly phage (crAssphage) from wastewater to monitor coronavirus transmission within communities. MedRxiv.
  • Walia, B., Kmush, B., Lane, S. D., Endy, T., Montresor, A., & Larsen, D. A. (2020). Routine deworming during antenatal care decreases risk of neonatal mortality and low birthweight: a retrospective cohort of survey data. medRxiv.
  • Ehrlich J, Kmush B, Walia B and Sanders S. Mortality risk factors among National Football League players: An analysis using player career data [version 3; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research 2020, 8:2022.
  • Kmush, B. L., Yu, H., Huang, S., Zhang, X., Wu, T., Nelson, K. E., & Labrique, A. B. (2019, August). Erratum: Long-term Antibody Persistence After Hepatitis E Virus Infection and Vaccination in Dongtai, China. In Open forum infectious diseases (Vol. 6, No. 8, p. ofz224). US: Oxford University Press.
  • Schulze, K. J., Mehra, S., Shaikh, S., Ali, H., Shamim, A. A., Wu, L. S., ... & Christian, P. (2019). Antenatal multiple micronutrient supplementation compared to iron–folic acid affects micronutrient status but does not eliminate deficiencies in a randomized controlled trial among pregnant women of rural Bangladesh. The Journal of nutrition, 149(7), 1260-1270.
  • Kmush, B. L., Yu, H., Huang, S., Zhang, X., Wu, T., Nelson, K. E., & Labrique, A. B. (2019, April). Long-term antibody persistence after hepatitis E virus infection and vaccination in Dongtai, China. In Open forum infectious diseases (Vol. 6, No. 4, p. ofz144). US: Oxford University Press.