Aerosol Scientist, Asymmetric Operations Sector at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
K. A. N. “Kae” Aithinne became interested in occupational safety and health during their time in insurance legal claims and industrial manufacturing. Dr. Aithinne earned a BS in Biology (2014) and obtained training in a microbiology laboratory (2015), then earned a MS in Industrial Hygiene & Environmental Health Sciences at the OU Hudson College of Public Health (2017) before continuing on to the PhD program in Occupational & Environmental Health. They successfully defended their dissertation in April 2020, and graduated the following month.
They are currently working as an Aerosol Scientist in the Asymmetric Operations Sector at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to this role, they were an Assistant Professor of Research at the Hudson College of Public Health, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, focusing on detection/prevention/mitigation of healthcare-acquired infectious pathogens by improving biological aerosol sampling methods for use in the healthcare environment. They serve as the Chair of the Biosafety and Environmental Microbiology Committee of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, and hold both the Certified in Public Health and the Graduate Safety Practitioner credentials.
They feel it is especially important to collaborate with both academic and industry professionals in the lab and field, doing so through multidisciplinary projects with multiple specialties. They have also authored and co-authored peer-reviewed publications in infectious biological aerosol generation rates and comparative aerosol sampling, and have been a peer reviewer for multiple journals.