Heather Amato

Bio: Dr. Heather Amato is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health (GEOH) at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. Dr. Amato directs the TRACE Lab, which focuses on environmental surveillance of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance at the human–animal–environment interface, with an emphasis on community-engaged research to reduce exposures. Her work integrates field epidemiology, microbial and molecular methods, and One Health approaches to inform environmental health interventions. 

Dr. Amato earned her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University, her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral training in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. 

Research Interests: One Health; environmental transmission of emerging pathogens; antimicrobial resistance; WASH; zoonotic and enteric diseases

Areas of Expertise: Environmental epidemiology; environmental surveillance methods; water and sanitation systems; microbial exposure assessment; molecular pathogen detection and bioinformatics; global health capacity building