About
The ICMC team of experts are here to help you achieve your goals. Please reach out with any questions at any stage in the process.
Core Leadership
Sarah Satola, PHD
Scientific Director
Dr. Sarah Satola is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. She is also the Director of the Georgia Emerging Infections Program Laboratory, a collaboration that includes the Georgia Department of Public Health, Emory University, the Atlanta VA Medical Center to conducts active surveillance and initiate research studies related to food-borne pathogens, invasive bacterial pathogens, viral respiratory pathogens, and healthcare-associated infections.
Dr. Satola’s research interests include molecular epidemiology and genetic mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and evaluating antibiotic heteroresistance in multi-drug resistant organism.
Ahmed Babiker, MBBS
Associate Medical Director
Timothy Read, PHD
Associate Director of Genomics
Tim's research centers around pathogen evolution using bacterial genomics and metagenomics. His group uses and builds pipelines for processing large bacterial genome databases.
Jesse J. Waggoner, MD
Associate Director of Virology
jesse.waggoner@emoryhealthcare.org
Jesse J. Waggoner is an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine. His work focuses on the development and evaluation of molecular diagnostics for human viral pathogens, principally respiratory viruses and emerging/re-emerging RNA viruses. As part of the ICMC, Dr. Waggoner and his laboratory perform investigational molecular testing for SARS-CoV-2, including the detection of specific mutations associated with variants of concern/interest.
Core Team
Alex Page, BA
Laboratory Manager
Alex Page has a BA in biology from Bard College where he did his thesis in environmental microbiology, focusing on the symbiotic relationship between bacteria and amphibians. He joined the Georgia Emerging Infections Program in 2017 where he facilitated the production of a biorepository of clinical isolates as a part of the GAEIP surveillance project. With the ICMC, he oversees the lab portion of the core and works with customers on project coordination and design.
Cecile Philippe
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Cécile Philippe is a post-doctoral fellow in the department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, mentored by Dr. Sarah Satola. She has a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the Université de Bordeaux (France). She spent 3 years working as a post-doctoral fellow in Université Laval and Félix d'Hérelle Reference Center for Bacterial Viruses (Moineau Lab, Québec), Canada. During her PhD and previous post-docs she studied the interactions between phages and bacteria. Dr. Philippe’s research interests include mobile genetic elements and how they contribute to antimicrobial resistance and modulate bacterial communities.
D'Ante Gooden, BS
Research Specialist
D'Ante earned his BS in Biology from the University Of West Georgia in 2020. His expertise is in Genomics, Microbiology and knowing random life and Georgia facts.
Rockford Watkins, BS
Research Specialist
Rockford received his BS in Biology from the University of Georgia and joined the ICMC in 2022. He hopes to learn more about microbiology, genetics, and data science and be able to analyze trends in our expanding clinical data.
Julia Van Riel, BS
Research Specialist
julia.annette.van.riel.@emory.edu
Julia Van Riel is a Research Specialist with the Satola lab. She received her BA in Biochemistry from Barnard College of Columbia University. Apart from research, she enjoys baking, sewing, and trying to befriend neighborhood cats.
