Briana: Hello and welcome to Gators on Purpose, where we talk with Allegheny College alumni who show us the power of combining what you love with what challenges you. At Allegheny College, being a Gator on purpose means shaping your own extraordinary path. And those unusual combinations lead to extraordinary outcomes: meaningful careers, and lives built on purpose. I'm Briana Lewis, Associate Professor of French and Faculty Liaison to the Center for Career and Professional Development, and I'm talking today with Emily Ricotta, Allegheny College class of 2009. Emily is currently Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Today we'll learn about how microbiology at Allegheny started her on a winding path to epidemiology and around the world and back. Emily Ricotta, welcome back to Allegheny. Emily: Thanks so much. It is really great to be here again. Briana: So to start off today, let's begin at the beginning. What first brought you to Allegheny? Emily: So I grew up in Pittsburgh and I have family who is in the area and I had a cousin who went to Allegheny College. And my mom insisted, actually, that I apply. So, you know, I applied and I came for accepted student visitors’ day and I fell in love. I loved my host that I stayed with, we’re friends to this day. It felt like home from the first minute here. Briana: And what was your first year here like? Emily: So, it was a lot. It was a lot of getting used to living on my own, getting used to roommates and all of that weirdness. But it was great. Allegheny is such this little microcosm. And so it's fun to get to meet people and learn how to amuse yourself and learn how to come up with creative things to do. So it ended up being really special. Briana: And so you said you majored in biology. Emily: Yes. Ultimately I majored in biology. Briana: Yes. And minored in…? Emily: German studies. So I ended up splitting and doing part German language and then part history. Briana: Okay. So when you think back to all the things you did while you were a student -- your classes, extracurriculars, things you did outside the classroom, what would you say had the greatest impact? Emily: Definitely working in the lab. I did my comp my junior year, and then when we got a new micro professor, Dr. Humphreys, my senior year, I came with the lab, so I had more experience to help her out, and the paper that we published together was my very first peer-reviewed manuscript. But also with Creek Connections, I got early experience teaching that and interacting with all different kinds of students, school environments, different teaching modules. Briana: And can you describe for maybe prospective students that are listening, or their parents, what Creek Connections is? Emily: Yeah. So, Creek Connections is environmental science education outreach. So “Creekers,” who are current Allegheny students and alumni, they go out to local area middle elementary, middle and high school. We teach students about the environment, about watersheds, about, you know, what makes a healthy stream. How can you tell if the waterways near your school are healthy or need help? And so, we're trying to impart environmental stewardship into the local community and the students get, you know, it's a fun day when you've got somebody else coming in the class. You get to pick apart owl pellets. Everyone loves that, right? So it's a great program both for the students who are receiving the education, but also the Creekers themselves, to see these interactions, get to meet the community in which we all live and we go to school for the four years here. Briana: While you were at Allegheny, what would you say some of the biggest challenges were for you? Emily: I really, especially looking back now, I didn't really have a ton of challenges here. I was always able to find the support systems that I needed. And it really was a family environment here for me. So, I'm very lucky that way, that I didn't have too much adversity to speak of. Briana: Yeah. And when you did, you had resources. Emily: Exactly. Which is, I think, really important for making a school feel like it's more than just a place to come and, you know, take classes and get a degree. And that's why I'm still excited to come back and still excited to talk to the students here. It is-- Allegheny has been a really big part of my life and I want to now pay that back, or pay it forward. Briana: Yeah. Yeah. To current students. And it's worth saying to folks who are listening to this, you've been on campus during this visit going to classes and talking to students about what you're doing now. Emily: Yeah, I've had the opportunity to give some talks in classes. So, it's definitely a privilege to come back. Briana: Yeah. So after Allegheny, what was your next step? What did you do after graduation? Emily: So, I was-- the goal was to go and do a PhD and I had applied to several programs and I got accepted to zero programs. Briana: Oh, dear! Emily: Yes, I know. Oh my gosh, the end of the world. Luckily, when I worked during the summers, I worked at University of Pittsburgh in a research lab there. So I called up my boss and said, "Lee, no one wants to take me to their program. What am I supposed to do?" And he said, "Well, it's not the end of the world, first off, and second off, come, you can come work for me." So I was offered a full-time job as a research technician in his lab. And then I got accepted to the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Master of Science program, which was unexpected because I had not applied to it; I had applied to their PhD program. Briana: Oh okay. Emily: Yes. But they said no no no not not PhD but-- Briana: --but they redirected you to a different program-- Emily: --come do the masters, yeah. So I deferred for a year and I went and I worked at Pitt. There's really no substitution for getting real world work experience. So I really recommend this as, even if you know what you want to do with the next step, taking time, taking a year, two years to work, to take a break, to help refresh your spirit is really great. Briana: Yeah. Emily: So, I did that, and then I went to Hopkins to do my masters. So, my masters is in molecular microbiology and immunology, from the Hopkins School of Public Health. I again was still on the pathway to doing molecular microbiology, and I ended up in a mosquito immunology lab. So, um, you know… I learned a lot. Wasn't really my cup of tea. And I was having my quarter life crisis and realized I needed to not be, this, I didn't want to do this for the rest of my life. And I was sitting at the student happy hour and drinking a beer with the other students when one of the professors, the epidemiology teachers, comes over and he goes, "Happy Hour isn't happy without students. Can I join you?" And so we sat and we chatted. And it turns out he needed a student to go to Zambia, to the malaria research institute there to do field epidemiology. And I said, "I'll go. I need a new lab." And so a few months later, I was packing up and off to Africa. And that is where I discovered epidemiology, and I fell in love. It was absolutely everything I wanted. Briana: That's fantastic. And so if we back up just a little bit, thinking back to those applications for PhD programs, do you have any insight into, in hindsight especially, what didn't quite work there? Emily: I had applied at University of Pittsburgh, where I had been working and so when I didn't get accepted to Pitt, I called up the head of the department and I said, "All right, what do I have to do? I thought I was a shoe-in for this program. What's up?" And he said, "Yeah, you're a great candidate, but we offered two slots and neither accepted and then we realized we just don't really have the funding.” So they didn't take any students at all my year. Briana: Right. Emily: So it was a little bit of poor timing. Briana: It was a tough time. Emily: Definitely. Briana: In 2009. Emily: Yeah. So a little bit of that, a little bit of, the programs that I applied to were really the top tier in molecular microbiology. And so while I feel like I came out of Allegheny pretty well prepared -- I had lab experience, my grades… my grades were are okay. I graduated cum laude. It's fine. Briana: That’s respectable. Emily: Yeah, it's okay. My mom would have liked it a little higher, but-- Briana: Well… Emily: But I'm a hard worker. I'm tenacious. And I didn't let that break my spirit. I didn't let that stop me. And frankly, it worked out because if I had gotten in to do molecular biology PhD programs, I wouldn't have found epidemiology. And this is what I really, really love to do. So, it all worked out in the end. Briana: And that's kind of partly why I ask, is like, was there a sense that there, you know, maybe that pivot that happened later to epidemiology was in fact sort of getting you on a right track where you were going to be both happier and more successful. Emily: Absolutely. Yeah. No, it's, it worked out. I'm not one of those people that necessarily believes everything happens for a reason, but the doors that were opened, you know, I went through. You can't go through the closed doors, right? And so I chose to go through the open doors and with an open mind and, wow, did it really work out. And I think to continue on any path, you need to be open to new opportunities and you need to not get discouraged if a roadblock falls in your way. Especially in science, we get a lot of rejection as scientists. We get manuscripts that don't get published. We don't get grant funding, you know, whatever it is. And if you let that stop you, then who's losing? You. You were the one losing. But if you find a way to say, okay, you know, take a step back, take it as an opportunity to reflect, and to say, well, what where can I go instead? Or what can I do differently? And you are just open-minded to opportunities and you lean on your networks. You connect with people. People are going to be out there to help you, other opportunities will arise and you never know what you're going to find. Briana: Yeah. So you found epidemiology. What do you think it was about epidemiology that grabbed you, that made that the thing? Emily: So, epidemiology -- we were the people all during Covid who were begging you please to wear your masks and get your vaccine. That was the epidemiologist. It was me. So epidemiology is the study of diseases, their determinants, their risk factors, their transmission at the population level. I compare it with clinicians. They see a single patient. They focus on a single person and what their health outcomes are. I get to do that, but at a population level. I'm seeing the forest and not the trees, whereas there are other people who need to see the trees. So, I like this way of thinking. It's also much more translational than-- epidemiology is not a basic science. So we're not building that foundational knowledge that, you know, say understanding what a cell line does or understanding what an immune protein does. We're much farther down the line where we can see our work really impact the public directly. So I just, I like that a lot. Briana: Sort of applied, rather than-- Emily: Exactly. Exactly. I do have to say the students at Allegheny are so incredibly lucky that they have an epidemiology program here. This did not exist when I was at Allegheny. Epidemiology has historically been seen as a master's level and above discipline. It is something that the profession is actively trying to change because it's so important to understand data especially, we saw during Covid, it's so easy to misunderstand data. The fact that students at Allegheny are now able to build those skills even if they never do anything else with epi, are already so far above the curve, and if they do choose to go into epi, are going to be way ahead of their peers who are just starting in their master's degrees. Briana: Yeah. So you went to Zambia. Emily: Yes. Briana: Take us forward in the story. What happened next? Emily: It was great. I mean, I-- fieldwork is not for me. I'm glad that I did it. I learned. But I-- every time I go into the field, I get some sort of intestinal parasite. Like, it's just not-- yeah. But fieldwork is something I recommend for everybody studying global health or infectious diseases because you can't gain the real context without being there and talking to the people who live this every single day. And so getting that understanding was one of the most valuable things that came out of my masters. Briana: And so what did you do next? There was the time in Zambia and then you came back and ended up at the department of health? Was that the next? So how'd that, what happened? Emily: So actually, so, it connects back to Pitt. So my adviser at Pitt that I worked for, Lee Harrison, he was associated with the Maryland Department of Health. And so I said, "Hey, I'm moving to Baltimore. Can you connect me?" So he did, and I worked at the Department of Health during my masters. But then they hired me full-time when I graduated to be an epidemiologist at the health department. Briana: So you did that for a while. Emily: I was there for a year. And it was great. It was very interesting. It's very important work. I realized though that I really missed science and scientific inquiry. There is unfortunately not a ton of time when you're working for the health department to do experimental science. But we had in Baltimore the Tropical Medicine Dinner Club of Baltimore, which met monthly and we would have some speaker come and talk to us about tropical medicine and what they did. So I actually, I met my current department chair there way back in the day before either of us was at USU. I got to meet D.A. Henderson, who is the person credited with eradicating smallpox. So I had dinner with him. He was wonderful. So all of these great networking opportunities came from this Tropical Medicine Dinner Club, one of which was meeting my next boss. So he recruited me back to Hopkins at their Center for Communication Programs to do malaria research. So we had USAID funding to do malaria bednet use distribution research and we had subcontractors who helped us do the research in these different countries, one of whom was the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. And so an opportunity arose for me to be able to turn my work at Hopkins into a dissertation with Swiss Tropical. And my bosses were so kind to let me do this. And so I started my PhD and I got to live in Switzerland for a semester while I still worked full-time. So I worked there, went to school, and then my research turned into my dissertation. The European style of PhD program is also different than the American style. It's, you do, for most programs there, need a master's degree but that's because you don't take as much coursework as you do in American PhDs. And if you have a project and funding, many universities over there will accept you as a student. It's a great opportunity to get out and go abroad, but it also offers opportunities if the traditional American PhD system isn't a great fit, like it turned out not to be for me. Briana: Right. Right. So, you were doing, at that time you said, malaria research? Is that when, where we are? Emily: Yes. Yep. So, studying, looking at bednet usage. But what's really important is if you have a bednet, it doesn't matter unless you use it. So, we were trying to understand, what are sort of the human behavioral drivers of that usage. Is it because it's too hot to sleep under? Is it-- A lot of times people would say, "I have to hang it up, but that takes up my entire one-bedroom house, and so I can't use my house for anything else the rest of the day, so I take it down, but then it's a pain to put up again." And when you hear people say these things, it's, like, so obvious. Well, duh. We had another one where we were asked by the government of Malawi to come in and talk to the fishermen about why they were fishing in Lake Malawi with their malaria mosquito nets, and, you know they said to us, “Look, everybody gets malaria, it's no problem here, but our children are starving to death.” It was interesting experiences like that, but it's, kind of makes you realize the scope of the global challenge, right? It's never just one thing that you can fix that's going to solve a problem. It's really multifactorial. Briana: Yeah. Everything's interconnected. And so at some point it sounds like, during your PhD study, you came back to the States and were working at the NIH? Tell me how that worked. Emily: I was finishing my PhD, and I did not want to be traveling internationally anymore, I didn't love field work, I just, it was time for me to move on from the Center for Communication Programs. And so I started looking around for other jobs, and I found the job at NIH. And it was a dream job. And just getting to be in a place that was still very academic, still very, you know, a lot of smart people talking about incredibly cool, interesting things, really solving a lot of health problems in the world. But also being part of the government and actually getting to see policy work get made was a very neat experience and a wonderful place to be. Briana: Yeah. And so what were you doing there? Emily: At first I was in the epidemiology unit. We focused a lot on non-tuberculous mycobacterium. It is a cousin to tuberculosis. I also did a lot of work on antimicrobial resistance, looking in large hospital data sets. We worked with the CDC to craft a new sort of definition that clinicians could use bedside for resistance. I got to work on the West African Ebola outbreak. This was retrospectively because it had finished by the time I got to NIH, but worked a lot with the data that had been collected, those samples-- Briana: And that was the outbreak in 2014? Emily: 2014 to 2016, yeah. So, got to work on that. Did a lot of work with invasive fungal infections. I started off as a contractor. So, which, a lot of people, I think, don't realize: if anybody is interested in getting into the federal government, look to the contracting agencies. That's your way to get the foot in the door. Briana: Okay. Emily: So, once I had my foot in the door, when one of the feds in my unit moved to CDC, that slot opened up, and I moved into that slot. And then kept building up my portfolio, kept doing research and a few years later in 2022 I was selected for a fellowship and was able to start my own group. So I started, I directed the epidemiology and data management group, a small but powerful, you know, my little mighty group. That was right during COVID, and so-- yes. Being an infectious disease epidemiologist in the middle of a global pandemic is, uh, not ideal…. Briana: So interesting, though! Emily: …. but also ideal, yeah, it was. And being at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases within NIH at that time was really a wonderful opportunity because I had the opportunity to lead a study evaluating how well vaccines worked in people who had really rare immune disorders. Briana: Okay. Emily: Because these folks had been left out of traditional clinical trials. So, they didn't know whether the vaccine would protect them at all or how well it would work. And here they are just left vulnerable with no answers. And so, we at the NIH had an opportunity to step forward and say, "We're going to study this. Let's get you some answers." And we did. They were wonderful participants in the research and really kept me going a lot during Covid even when things got pretty dark. You know, I could always say I'm here in service of my study patients. I'm here in service of the public and what I am doing is good work and important work. And so that really helped keep me going and working the long hours, because I knew it was for a good purpose. And the vaccines work really well in people who have immune disorders too, which is great news. Briana: Yeah, that is great news. And so from there, how did you get to where you are now? Let's bring the story up to the present. Emily: Yeah. So, I loved working at NIH and at NIAID. But it was just the right time to look for new opportunities. And so, I was at a meeting, a conference, and somebody posted this job on the board and I thought, well, why not? Let me…. And so, we met up and it sounded great, and here I am. And it turns out, I mean, I loved working at NIAID, but I love working at Uniformed Services University. I get to, I still get to do all my research. I am still a federal employee, but I get to teach now. And I, it turns out I really love that. I got to mentor and advise at NIH -- and for any students listening, I highly recommend you check out the NIH post-baccalaureate training program. It's a one- to two-year paid research fellowship where you get to go work at an NIH lab. But it's different from teaching classes and having masters and PhD students who work with you. And just being on a campus of, you know, again, it's just a different environment and it's been really incredible. Briana: Yeah. And so, looking back over the story that you've told, you've made quite a lot of transitions in the 17 years since you've left Allegheny, and it sounds like at each step, you also seem to be thinking not just about kind of moving up, but moving sort of toward something. How would you describe that? What's sort of your guiding principle? Emily: I don't know that I've ever had a goal towards which I was moving. I think it's always been, I'm interested in science. I want to be in science. And now I know I've learned that I want to be in public service. So those are sort of, as long as I am, I fall under that umbrella, I'm happy. So I think it's just been again being open-minded, being curious. But I'm always moving somewhere where I know I can contribute as well. But it's never guaranteed. There's been a lot of luck involved, and a lot of it has been because I have connections with people and I know, and I trust those people. So I think that it's, you know, making those connections and then always just looking for, is this a good fit? Is this a good time? And do I trust the person that's connected me or am I willing to make that leap? And knowing that if it's an imperfect leap, okay. Briana: Then it's okay. Emily: You do that for a few years, you do the good work, you put in the time and the effort there, and then you move to the next opportunity. So, it's been a fun progression. It's been a fun ride. Briana: Yeah. That's great. That's a great way to think about it, too. So what do you see as the most important contributions of the work that you're doing? Emily: It's important for me that my research or any of the work that I do, not even the research, but science communication that I do, the policy work that I do, I want it to help people. I want it to help improve people's well-being. That is, I think, the most, kind of, important impact that I have -- as well as teaching and advising and communicating the science. And so if the only meaningful thing that I do in this world is that I have educated the next generation of scientists to go out and do great things, I will have led a successful life. Briana: Yeah, that's a lot. So, one final question. What advice do you have for either current or future Allegheny students who hope to build successful lives of meaning and purpose? Emily: My advice to you would be to do good work, whatever that means to you. Whether that is treating patients because you're a doctor, whether that's because you work in public health, maybe you are teaching mathematics to inner city kids, maybe you are, you know, whatever it is that you're doing, do the best work that you can do. And try to do work that helps people and be kind and be understanding and if you can do that, then whatever you do will be a good, meaningful, worthy contribution to this world. Find a way to give back and to do the good work and that will help you live a meaningful life. Briana: That's wonderful. Well, Emily Ricotta, it has been wonderful to talk with you today. Thank you again for having the conversation. Emily: Thank you so much for having me. I've really appreciated it. Briana: I'd also like to thank all the members of the Allegheny community who helped make Gators on Purpose possible, including members of our alumni engagement and marketing and communications teams. Our digital humanities librarian, Andrew Miller, provides tech technical support for our recordings. Our music was composed by Dominic Juliana, Allegheny class of 2026, under the mentorship of Professor Michael Dolan, and was performed by piano instructor Wendy Plyer. Editing and mixing are done by me, your host, Briana Lewis. From campus to career, every Gator has a story that's uniquely their own. Stories of curiosity and unusual combinations of interests fueled by creativity and a supportive community. These stories remind us that Allegheny College doesn't just prepare you for a job. It prepares you for a life lived on purpose.