Heather Deaton-Carsel serves as a Communications Advisor to ARAC. Before officially joining the team in January of 2022, Heather worked as an intern for ARAC. In addition to advising on our overall communication strategy, Heather manages our social media platforms and creates content for ARAC. Her work brought us our beautiful new superbugsarenotfunny.com site, monthly newsletters, blogs and eye-catching videos. Heather loves interacting with our network, so feel free to say hi or send potential content and ideas her way! heathermorgan@gwu.edu

Heather earned her Masters in Public Health from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Davis. She has a background in photography, graphic design, and social media management.

Annie is an MPH student in Epidemiology at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. She has experience interning in Congress, at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and as Co-President of GlobeMed at GWU. At ARAC, Annie will be focusing on a project related to urgent care antibiotic stewardship quality improvement.

Anushka Raut is a graduate research intern at ARAC and is currently a second-year graduate student at the Milken Institute School of Public Health pursuing her MPH in Environmental Health Science and Policy. She completed her bachelor's in Dental Surgery from D. Y. Patil University, Navi Mumbai, India and graduated in 2019. Her research interests include antibiotic resistance in bacteria and fungal pathogens.

Nathan is a research assistant at ARAC, working on numerous projects including characterizing the nasal microbiome. He received his bachelors in Biological Physics and Biology from Brandeis University. His previous research includes studying functions in halophilic archaea and yeast transcription. Nathan’s interests are in exploring microbial functions, particularly within exotic microbial communities.

Areesh Fatmee is a research assistant at the ARAC. She is currently a second year graduate student at Milken Institute School of Public Health pursuing an MPH in Epidemiology under the Fulbright scholarship program. She received her undergraduate in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the PMAS- Arid Agriculture University, Pakistan in 2020. Her research interests include antibiotic resistance in bacterial and fungal pathogens, HIV prevalence and outbreaks in pediatric populations and infectious disease surveillances in vulnerable populations. Alongside this, she is currently working with EGPAF D.C. and Nairobi to determine the impact of COVID-19 on the access, coverage and utility areas of HIV in pediatric populations. She has demonstrated a brief research experience concerning pediatric populations in Pakistan. 

Kaeley is a research assistant at the ARAC. She is currently a graduate student at GWSPH pursuing an MS in Public Health Microbiology and Emerging Infectious Diseases. She received her BS in Biology from the University of Dayton in 2020. Her research interests include antibiotic resistance in bacterial and fungal pathogens. She has previous lab experience in antimicrobial resistance.

Sam is currently a Master’s student at the Milken Institute School of Public Health studying Epidemiology, emphasizing in infectious disease control and surveillance. Prior to starting his graduate studies and joining Dr. Lynch’s Lab, he attended Brigham Young University where he received a B.S. in Microbiology in 2017. Sam also worked as a veterinary microbiologist for 3 years at Utah State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Lab.