UIC COVID-19 Contact Tracing and Epidemiology Program
The UIC COVID-19 Contact Tracing and Epidemiology Program (CCTEP) is a group of epidemiologists and student contact tracers housed in the School of Public Health. CCTEP’s mission is to monitor COVID-19 epidemiology on the UIC campus and perform case investigation and contact tracing for employees and students who are infected with COVID-19 or exposed to someone with COVID-19. CCTEP collaborates with University Health Services COVID-19 contact tracing team to collectively form UIC Contact Tracing, serving all students, faculty, and staff at UIC.
Since its inception on August 31, 2020, CCTEP has grown from a team of seven student contact tracers, to an impressive forty-one student contact tracer corps, with representatives from all across the campus. CCTEP collaborates with many stakeholders across campus, including Campus Housing, Athletics, Performing Arts, Student Health Services, UI Health Infection Prevention and Control, UIC’s Incident Commander, and UIC saliva testing program leadership. CCTEP has established a reputation for speed, accuracy, and efficacy and for preventing ongoing spread from clusters of infected persons and their contacts. Some of our metrics can be reviewed on the UIC COVID-19 dashboard.
COVID-19 testing and contact tracing quick links Heading link
Program Hours (normal hours resume Jan. 3)
| Sunday | ||
|---|---|---|
| Monday | ||
| Tuesday | 12:00pm – 08:00pm | |
| Wednesday | 12:00pm – 08:00pm | |
| Thursday | 12:00pm – 08:00pm | |
| Friday | 12:00pm – 08:00pm | |
| Saturday | 12:00pm – 08:00pm |
UIC COVID-19 Contact Tracing and Epidemiology Program Heading link
Program leadership Heading link
Meet the contact tracers Heading link
Daniel Antonio (lead contact tracer) is pursuing an MPH in Epidemiology at the UIC School of Public Health with interests in chronic disease epidemiology and using data to understand the root causes of diseases. Future career aspirations include working at research institutions and community organizations to grow the knowledge base that improves everyday people’s health.
Aseem (contact tracer) is an MPH, Epidemiology student at the UIC School of Public Health. He has his MBBS and MD from Delhi, India. Aseem has worked as a resident doctor in COVID-19 ICUs, vaccination centers and contact tracing programs in India and is interested in infectious disease epidemiology and clinico-social research.
Taylor Breiter (lead contact tracer) is an MPH candidate at the UIC School of Public Health studying Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology. During the pandemic, she got involved by working as a graduate assistant on the NIH ACTIV (Accelerated COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines) clinical trials and as a member of UIC’s contact tracing team. While her public health interests are broad, she is passionate about reproductive healthcare access, including contraception and abortion care. She hopes to work at a state or local health department in the future, using her education and interests to reduce inequalities in access to care across different communities.
Princy Daniel (contact tracer) is an MPH student in Community Health Sciences with a Maternal and Child Health concentration. Her interest in public health stems from a love for children and women’s health. Her research interests also include nutrition and environmental sustainability in developing countries. As a future public health professional, she hopes to work in a setting that emphasizes the importance of health in women and children and allows her to use the quantitative and qualitative analysis skills she has learned from her UIC courses.
Chloe Edminston (lead contact tracer) is an MPH in Epidemiology student at the UIC School of Public Health. Her interests in public health lie in the intersection between infectious diseases and health disparities in the US, especially the study of neglected infectious diseases among underserved and marginalized populations. After finishing her MPH, she plans to attend medical school and use her public health expertise to better understand the unique circumstances which patients and communities she will serve live, work and learn in.
Claire Flanagan (lead contact tracer) is a UIC undergraduate student majoring in sociology and minoring in history. She plans to pursue an MPH post-graduation and is interested in working for a community health center to advocate for pregnant people and children.
Paige Hardy (contact tracer) is a first-year graduate student in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division of the School of Public Health. Before she began pursuing her Master of Public Health, Paige attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in Microbiology and minored in Global Health and European Studies. Paige hopes to be an infectious disease epidemiologist at the state or local level. She is most interested in vaccine-preventable diseases, outbreak investigation, and public health surveillance. In her spare time, Paige enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, yoga, and hiking.
Lizzy Jang (contact tracer) is an MS in Occupational Therapy student at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences. Her interests lie in precision medicine and personalizing treatment to each individual’s health history, lifestyle, and environment. As a future occupational therapist, she seeks to pursue a holistic approach in helping individuals live meaningful lives within their unique contexts. She is interested in immersing herself in a wide variety of settings to provide culturally conscious, patient-centered care.
Emily Jimenez (lead contact tracer) is an MPH student in Epidemiology at the UIC School of Public Health. She worked as an optician for over five years. As an optician, she strived to make sure all community members had equal access to care which sparked her interest in public health. After graduating, she hopes to work as a data scientist and use statistical methods to show the impacts of social and structural determinants of health.
Seri Lee (contact tracer) is currently enrolled in a Master of Science in nursing at the UIC School of Nursing. Before pursuing my MSN, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Her future career goal is to work as a registered nurse to gain more experience in the healthcare field. Seri’s final goal is to earn a Ph.D. degree in Nursing to do more depth research to help people receive equal and adequate health care in underserved areas
Catherine Marshall (contact tracer) is an MPH student in the Epidemiology division at the UIC School of Public Health. Her interests in public health began while earning her Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences at DePaul University. Her public health interests are mainly focused in infectious disease epidemiology with a career in a hospital or health department setting.
Hope Orsi (contact tracer) will be graduating with her BS in Public Health and minors in psychology and biology from the UIC School of Public Health this year. In the fall, she will be starting my MPH in Epidemiology in the UIC School of Public Health as well. Her public health interests lie in one health and zoonotic disease epidemiology. After she obtains her MPH, she is aspiring to enter a Veterinary Medicine program to eventually work as a public health veterinarian.
Ayesha Patel (contact tracer) is a MS in Occupational Therapy student at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences. Her interests lie in understanding and addressing health inequities and disparities in order to help create a healthcare system that supports a diverse population. As a future OT, she is interested in holistic and inclusive care to support and empower individuals of all ages and backgrounds to live their life in a way that is most meaningful to them.
Lesley Sahagun (contact tracer) is an MS in Occupational Therapy student at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences. She is interested in addressing the health disparities that individuals across the lifespan face and collaborating with marginalized populations through client-centered care. As a future occupational therapist, she aims to explore pediatrics but would love to diversify her experiences by connecting with various patient populations.
Manassawee Srimoragot (contact tracer) is a Ph.D. student in Nursing. Her dissertation research focuses on sleep characteristics and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among Thai women in Illinois. Her long-term goal is to understand the differences of mechanisms leading to sleep disturbances and CVD risk in diverse racial and ethnic groups. During the pandemic, she has been volunteering and working in various COVID-19 related projects around Chicago. She is very excited to be a part of the UIC contact tracing team.
Liliana Tirado Lopez (lead contact tracer) is a BS in Neuroscience and pre-medicine student at the UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She aims to pursue a career as a physician in the neurology, surgical or oncology fields. She is extremely passionate about innovation in healthcare and finding ways to merge technology and medicine together to create new pathways and possibilities. She advocates for underrepresented groups in STEM and healthcare and for affordable, more accessible high quality healthcare that is comprehensive and holistic.
Morgan Turner (contact tracer) is an MPH in Epidemiology student at the UIC School of Public Health. She became interested in public health as an undergraduate when she began shadowing a health educator at her local health center. She remains interested in learning about different health inequities and disparities different communities face. Her goal is to finish her master’s and start working in the healthcare field, researching ways to fill these gaps in the healthcare system that impact different communities.
Karly Wcisel (contact tracer) is an MS in Occupational Therapy student at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences. Her interests lie in pediatric mental health and providing individualized care to clients. As a future occupational therapist, she aims to help individuals return to meaningful activities and explore pediatrics, though is interested in many different settings and populations.