Emily Ricotta ’09 was selected as a finalist for the highly competitive 2024 Early Career Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Research Quality, which recognizes outstanding contributions from researchers. She credits her time at Allegheny College for preparing her with lifelong skills.
“These experiences (at Allegheny) not only laid the foundation for my career but also connected me with an incredible community of friends and mentors who continue to support and inspire me. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to begin my journey than Allegheny College,” says Ricotta.
After graduating with a biology major and a German studies minor, Ricotta attended the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to pursue a master’s in microbiology and immunology.
As a graduate student, she interned at the Maryland Department of Health and became an epidemiologist there as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s FoodNet program, investigating foodborne diseases nationwide.
Remaining connected with Johns Hopkins, Ricotta was recruited to support the Networks Project in researching malaria prevention in Africa and Asia. Simultaneously, she earned her doctorate and collaborated with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
Ricotta notes that her bachelor’s degree exposed her to laboratory research and gave her the courage to mature as a scholar.
Allegheny gave me so many opportunities to explore my passions and grow in confidence as a person and scientist. In addition to the rigorous coursework that prepared me for graduate school, I got my first experience doing laboratory research and managing a lab (Professor Baros), writing and publishing a manuscript (Professor Humphreys), and teaching (Creek Connections),” reflects Ricotta.
Ricotta continued to further her expertise at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gradually moving up from a research analyst contractor to an independent research scholar and chief of the epidemiology of the data management unit.
However, Ricotta knew she enjoyed teaching from her work with Creek Connections and being a teaching assistant for several microbiology classes at Allegheny College. It wasn’t until she began instructing as an adjunct assistant professor at George Washington University that she realized the missing component.
Today, she is an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland. Her work continues to support students pursuing work in public health, health policy, data science, and clinical research.
Outside the classroom, Ricotta’s research focuses on collecting, managing, and analyzing data to prevent infectious diseases, including malaria, Ebola, and SARS-CoV-2.
She notes her experience at Allegheny College initially sparked her lifelong research in infectious disease.
“My love for infectious diseases began at Allegheny College and has been the one constant in my career,” says Ricotta. “I would never have made it to this point without the amazing mentors I’ve had along the way. It’s my turn to pay that forward, so I’m always happy to talk to Allegheny students about science and career topics!”
