Lab Members

India Shepherd Hammond is the Program and Research Manager in the Logan Laboratory, a role she began in November 2024. She manages administrative and research activities in support of the lab's NIH-funded pediatric infectious disease studies and plays a key role in the growth and strategic development of the program.

India develops and implements operational plans, facilitates cross-functional collaboration, and serves as a liaison to internal and external committees and partners. She also oversees the planning and logistics for scientific events including lectures, seminars, and research meetings, and supports lab visibility through program-related communications such as websites, publications, and multimedia content.

She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Health Services Administration from Drexel University and her Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Scranton. Outside of work, India loves spending time with her husband and two kids

As Bacteriology Research Specialist Supervisor, Dr. Federico Cunha coordinates laboratory operations, supervises research personnel, and develops methodologies for studies investigating multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacteria, particularly Enterobacterales, affecting children, healthy populations, animals, and the environment. He also contributes to grant writing, project development, and scientific publications.

Dr. Cunha earned his DVM, MS, and PhD from the University of Florida, where his research focused on antimicrobial resistance, host-microbe interactions, and pathogen discovery in livestock. With a background in veterinary microbiology and computational biology, he has extensive experience in infection models, culture of fastidious organisms, metagenomics, and bacterial genome analyses.

As a Research Assistant in the Logan Lab, Katherine is responsible for preparing media and solutions, making plates, and supporting ongoing research projects. She plays an integral role in supporting day-to-day lab operations and contributes to the smooth execution of experiments and sample processing.

Katherine is currently an undergraduate at Emory University, majoring in Biology on the pre-med track. She is passionate about microbiology and infectious diseases, and her hands-on experience in the lab is helping her build a strong foundation in clinical research methods.

Her dedication to the lab's research efforts reflects her commitment to academic excellence and her aspiration to pursue a career in medicine.

Kara is an infectious disease epidemiologist with a background in surveillance, outbreak investigation, and global health. As a senior public health program associate for the Logan Laboratory, Kara is responsible for coordinating human subjects research and assessing risk factors for colonization with CA-MDR Ent and transmission dynamics of CA-MDR Ent among community members located in established regions with high risk infection for “Community Reservoirs of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-producing and Multi-Drug Resistant Enterobacterales (CARE)” (R01AI79686-01A1). Having spent nearly a decade supporting both investigator-initiated and funded research, Kara came to the team with extensive experience in acquiring and managing federal grants and small research teams.

Concurrent with her work at Emory, Kara is a PhD candidate in epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she conducts treatment as prevention research in ending the HIV epidemic (EHE) priority populations. Her dissertation focuses on barriers to HIV care and randomized controlled trial retention among these priority populations. In addition to her track record acquiring large federal grants, Kara also
partners with non-profit organizations to conduct grassroots fundraising campaigns to support global health research, including her current behavioral HIV research among South Indian female sex workers.

Mahfuza has navigated through a diverse yet interconnected academic landscape, gaining valuable research experience from institutions across the world. She completed her undergraduate studies at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh, and earned her MS degree in marine Environment and Resources from the University of Basque Country, Spain, with a fully funded scholarship from the European Union. She conducted her MS thesis research at the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Scotland. She then obtained her PhD in Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Biotechnology from Clarkson University, USA. As a graduate student, her research focused on the evolution of antibiotic resistance in opportunistic pathogens across different environments.

As a postdoctoral fellow, Mahfuza's current research aims to understand the transmission of multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales (MDR Ent) in the community through exposure to environmental and animal reservoirs. She is working on profiling MDR Ent and mobile antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the waterways of the Greater Chicago Area, identifying environmental reservoirs linked to community
acquisition of MDR Ent.

Barrett Breeze graduated from Berry College with a degree in Biology and Biochemistry, where he gained his first research experience studying the effects of pollution on sea anemones. He currently serves as a Research Specialist in the Logan Lab and has been a valued member of the team for nearly two years.

Barrett’s primary focus has been on a project investigating Enterobacterales and ESBL colonization on household surfaces. In addition to his research responsibilities, he is actively applying to medical schools as he works toward a future career in healthcare.

Outside of the lab, Barrett enjoys playing and coaching pickleball in his free time.

As the Lead Research Specialist, Catie performs a variety of specialized and complex research and laboratory tests and procedures. She also supports the daily operations of the laboratory by conducting experiments, maintaining equipment and supplies, and assisting with project coordination. In this role she plays a critical part in ensuring lab efficiency, quality of research output, and compliance with institutional and regulatory standards. Catie worked as a fellow at the CDC after obtaining a bachelor’s in science in Microbiology at Ohio Wesleyan University before joining the Logan Lab in 2023.

Dr. Sallie Lin is a Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellow at Emory University. She majored in Biological Engineering with a concentration in Biomedical Engineering and minored in Chemistry at Mississippi State University. She received her Medical Degree at University of Mississippi Medical Center in 2021 and graduated from Pediatric Residency at University of Florida in 2024. Being passionate for One Health, she joined the Logan Laboratory in 2024 to study the epidemiology of community-associated multi-drug resistant Enterobacterales. Her research focuses on spatial analysis, with the goal to identify any geographic clustering and help guide interventions for disease prevention.