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Katrin Kuhn, Ph. D.
Biostatistics & Epidemiology

Katrin Kuhn, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Hudson College of Public Health
801 Northeast 13th Street, Room 331
Post Office Box 26901
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104 

(405) 271-2229, x48083

Katrin-Kuhn@ouhsc.edu

Dr. Kuhn has a specific research interest in the interplay between animals, the environment and infectious diseases, and in particular using novel ways of detecting and describing infectious disease outbreaks. She worked for almost 15 years at the national Danish institute of infectious diseases as a senior epidemiologist in charge of One Health collaborations, national surveillance of Campylobacter and Shigella and as principal investigator on register-based analyses and case-control and cohort studies. Together with her group, she has generated new and important knowledge on the transmission, distribution and seasonality of campylobacteriosis and solved numerous outbreaks caused by food-and waterborne pathogens. 

Since transitioning to the Hudson College of Public Health in 2020, Dr. Kuhn has worked with public health, city and municipality leaders to manage COVID-19 across Oklahoma. She is also one of the founders of the cross-disciplinary OU Wastewaster Surveillance team, working to detect ‘hotspots’ of COVID-19 for guiding testing and vaccination efforts. The recent expansion of the wastewater surveillance to include vector-borne and food-and waterborne pathogens signals an important new development for the State of Oklahoma as a supplement to traditional disease surveillance. 

Dr. Kuhn has served as an expert consultant on infectious diseases and climate change for the World Health Organization and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as well as a nominated expert on food-and waterborne diseases and antimicrobial resistance for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Education:

  • Bachelor of Medicine (MB), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2009 
  • Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK, 2004 
  • Master of Science (MSc) in Medical Parasitology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK, 1997 
  • Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Zoology, University of London, London, UK, 1996

Appointments:

  • Infectious Disease Epidemiologist & Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, Hudson College of Public Health, OUHSC, 2020-present 
  • External Professor and Module Organizer for the Clinical Trials Distance-based Master of Science Program, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK, 2009-present 
  • Senior Infectious Disease Epidemiologist, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2007-2020 

Teaching:

  • BSE 5303 Epidemiology of Infectious Disease 
  • BSE 5333 Introduction to Emerging Infections and Bioterrorism 
  • BSE 5960 Directed Readings 
  • BSE 5980 Research for Master’s Thesis 

Clinical/Research Interests:

  • Infectious Disease Epidemiology  
  • Infectious Disease Surveillance 
  • Wastewater-based Disease Surveillance and Epidemiology  
  • Infectious Disease Outbreak Detection and Investigations 
  • One Health and Global Health 
  • Climatic and Environmental effects on Infectious Diseases

Select Publications:

Link to Dr. Kuhn's current publications

Select publications:

  1. Kuhn, Katrin; Hvass, Anne; Christiansen, Annette; Ethelberg, Steen; Cowan, Susan. Sexual Contact as Risk Factor for Campylobacter Infection, Denmark. Emerg Infect Dis. 2021;27(4):1133-1140. doi:10.3201/eid2704.202337 
  2. Kuhn, Katrin and Ethelberg, Steen. Investigating Outbreaks of Salmonella Typhimurium Using Case-Control Studies, with a Reference to the One Health Approach. Methods Mol Biol. 2021;2182:17-32. doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-0791-6_3 
  3. Joensen, Katrine; Kiil, Kristoffer; Gantzhorn, Mette; Nauerby, Birgitte; Engberg, Jorgen; Holt, Hanne; Nielsen, Hans; Petersen, Andreas; Kuhn, Katrin; Sando, Gudrun; Ethelberg, Steen; Nielsen, Eva. Whole-Genome Sequencing to Detect Numerous Campylobacter jejuni Outbreaks and Match Patient Isolates to Sources, Denmark, 2015-2017. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020;26(3):523-532. doi:10.3201/eid2603.190947 
  4. Kuhn, Katrin; Nygard, Karin; Guzman-Herrador, Barnardo; Sunde, Linda; Rimhanen-Finne, Ruska; Tronnberg, Linda; Jepsen, martin; Ruuhela, Reija; Wong, Wai; Ethelberg, Steen. Campylobacter infections expected to increase due to climate change in Northern Europe. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):13874. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70593-y 
  5. Kuhn, Katrin, Nygård K, Löfdahl M, Trönnberg L, Rimhanen-Finne R, Sunde L, Guzman-Herrador B, Ethelberg S (2019). Campylobacteriosis in the Nordic countries from 2000 to 2015: trends in time and space. Scand J Pub Health. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1403494819875020