Core Faculty and Staff

Nicole Baumgarth is the Inaugural LTBDI Director and Peetz Family Professor in Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Department as well as Professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Molecular & Comparative Pathobiology.  Dr. Baumgarth’s research is focused on understanding how B cell–mediated protective immunity develops and is maintained and how Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, misdirects the adaptive immune response to establish persistence in natural reservoir species. She is also interested in the development, regulation and function of natural IgM and the B cell subsets that produce it.

Amy joined the team in March 2023 and is responsible for developing and managing the educational and outreach efforts of the Institute.  During the pandemic, she provided programmatic and operational oversight and served as the liaison to the DoD for the COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Trials. Prior to that, she was with the Urban Health Institute, working across JHU to advance health and health equity in Baltimore via a wide range of programs, events, educational, and funding opportunities designed to facilitate collaborations, mobilize resources, and advance dialogue and community representation.  She came to JHU from the National Academy of Sciences.

Heather joined the Baumgarth lab in April of 2023 as Laboratory Manager.  Her first exciting goal was to move Dr. Baumgarth's lab into her newly renovated lab space. She currently manages the lab and is involved in researching immunity to infections with Borrelia burgdorferi and to influenza virus. Before joining MMI Heather worked with the School of Medicine for over 20 years, always in the laboratory setting.  

Caroline joined the Institute in March 2023. Responsible for overall coordination of a broad range of services/resources that allow the Institute to operate efficiently, she handles the administrative tasks for the institute. Before joining LTBDI, Caroline supported the Chair of the Environmental Health and Engineering department in BSPH. Prior to Hopkins, she worked for the Department of State in Nairobi, Kenya.

Doug Norris - a Professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology who also holds a joint appointment with the Department of International Health Division of Global Disease Epidemiology and Control-is the Institute's resident tick expert. His research focuses on genetic diversity, behavior and ecology of arthropod-borne disease systems, with a concentration at the transmission interface. Dr. Norris's research activities include malaria in Southern and Central Africa, Lyme disease, Rickettsia and other tick-borne bacteria in the eastern United States, dengue, yellow fever and Zika in the Americas and the Caribbean, and novel autonomous arthropod trapping and surveillance technologies.