• Maria Sundaram PhD, MSPH

  • Assoc. Res Scientist-Basic Sci


    • MCRI - MCRI-Clin Epidem and Pop Hlth
    • 1000 North Oak Ave. Marshfield Center - Melvin Laird Building > ML2 Marshfield, WI 54449

Education

2014 to 2018:
PhD, Environmental Health-Infectious Diseases, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2009 to 2011:
MSPH, International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
2004 to 2009:
BS, Neuroscience and German, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI

Work Experience

2021 to 2021:
Associate Research Scientist, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Marshfield, WI
2020 to 2021:
Postdoctoral Fellow, ICES and University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Toronto, ON
2018 to 2020:
Postdoctoral Fellow, Emory Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA
2011 to 2014:
Research Epidemiologist, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, Marshfield, WI
2011 to 2011:
Consultant, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health at WHO, Geneva, SUI

Statement

Dr. Sundaram is an infectious disease epidemiologist and Associate Research Scientist in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Population Health at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. Her research focuses on topics of respiratory pathogen transmission in communities, vaccine effectiveness, maternal and child health, and vaccine promotion and policy. Her work primarily focuses on respiratory viral pathogens, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, and SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Sundaram also serves as a COVID-19 expert for a weekly radio program on the BBC World Service.

Research Interests

Vaccinology and vaccine epidemiology, including safety, effectiveness, and policy

Vaccine-preventable respiratory pathogens, including influenza, RSV, SARS-CoV-2, Neisseria meningitidis, and Bordetella pertussis

Bioethical considerations of vaccination programs and vaccine confidence

Infectious diseases in the perinatal period and maternal immunization

Health equity and local/global vaccine equity

Professional Societies

2014 to Present:
Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health

Select Publications

  • Zhang L, Chu L, Sundaram ME, Zhou Y, Sun X, Wei Z, Fu C. Identifying Preferred Features of Influenza Vaccination Programs Among Chinese Clinicians Practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine: Discrete Choice Experiment. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2025 January 20;11:e63314. doi: 10.2196/63314. PMCID: PMC11769775.
    PubMed ID: 39864957
  • Bednarczyk RA, Sundaram ME. The Continued Risk of Measles Outbreaks in the United States Resulting From Suboptimal Vaccination Coverage. [published online ahead of print 2025 January 3]. Public Health Rep. 333549241306608. doi: 10.1177/00333549241306608. PMCID: PMC11699549.
    PubMed ID: 39749889
  • Sundaram, ME, McClure, DL, Alonge, O, Stefanski, E, Saeedi, P, Pirçon, J, Nguyen, HQ. Seasonal incidence of medically-attended respiratory syncytial virus infection from 2015 to 2019, in a cohort of adults with high-risk conditions. [published online ahead of print 2025 March 14]. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf166.
  • Kluberg SA, Cocoros NM, O'Neill J, Boyce TG, Sundaram ME, Schotthoefer A,...Stark JH [including Greenlee RT.] Validation of Algorithms to Detect Acute and Disseminated Lyme Disease in U.S. Administrative Claims Data. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2025 April;12(4):ofaf109. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaf109. PMCID: PMC11953000.
    PubMed ID: 40160339
  • Warren JL, Sundaram M, Pitzer VE, Omer SB, Weinberger DM. Incorporating efficacy data from initial trials into subsequent evaluations: Application to vaccines against respiratory syncytial virus. Epidemiology. 2024 March 1;35(2):130-136. doi: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001690.
    PubMed ID: 37963353
  • Grima AA, Kwong JC, Richard L, Reid J, Raphael J, Basta NE,...Sundaram ME. The safety of seasonal influenza vaccination among adults prescribed immune checkpoint inhibitors: A self-controlled case series study using administrative data. VACCINE. 2024 March 7;42(7):1498-1505. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.01.023.
    PubMed ID: 38341288
  • Chung H, Campitelli MA, Buchan SA, Campigotto A, Crowcroft NS, Gubbay JB,...Kwong JC [including Sundaram ME.] Measuring waning protection from seasonal influenza vaccination during nine influenza seasons, Ontario, Canada, 2010/11 to 2018/19. Euro Surveill. 2024 February;29(8). doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.8.2300239.
    PubMed ID: 38390652
  • Hechter RC, Qian L, Liu IA, Sy LS, Ryan DS, Xu S,...Tseng HF [including Sundaram ME.] COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage and Factors Associated With Vaccine Uptake Among People With HIV. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 June 3;7(6):e2415220. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.15220. PMCID: PMC11157350.
    PubMed ID: 38842808
  • Aguolu OG, Kiti MC, Nelson K, Liu CY, Sundaram M, Gramacho S,...Omer SB. Comprehensive profiling of social mixing patterns in resource poor countries: A mixed methods research protocol. PLoS One. 2024 June 24;19(6):e0301638. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301638. PMCID: PMC11195963.
    PubMed ID: 38913670
  • Yih WK, Duffy J, Su JR, Bazel S, Fireman B, Hurley L,...Shimabukuro T [including Sundaram M.] Tinnitus after COVID-19 vaccination: Findings from the vaccine adverse event reporting system and the vaccine safety datalink. Am J Otolaryngol. 2024 December;45(6):104448. doi: 10.1016/j.amjoto.2024.104448.
    PubMed ID: 39096568
  • Duffy J, Yih WK, Walton K, DeSilva MB, Glanz JM, Hambidge SJ,...Weintraub E [including Sundaram ME.] JYNNEOS vaccine safety surveillance in the vaccine safety datalink during the 2022 mpox outbreak in the United States. [published online ahead of print 2024 November 20]. Infection. doi: 10.1007/s15010-024-02428-1. PMCID: 10205168.
    PubMed ID: 39565485
  • Li K, Emerman I, Cook AJ, Fireman BH, Sundaram M, Tseng HX,...Shi X. Using Double Negative Controls to Adjust for Healthy User Bias in a Recombinant Zoster Vaccine Safety Study. [published online ahead of print 2024 November 26]. Am J Epidemiol. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwae439.
    PubMed ID: 39604009
  • Polter EJ, Christianson B, Steinberg A, Doan M, Ljungman H, Sundaram ME,...Bendixsen C [including VanWormer JJ, McLean HQ.] Urban and rural healthcare providers' perspectives on HPV vaccination in Minnesota. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2023 December 15;19(3):2291859. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2023.2291859. PMCID: PMC10730133.
    PubMed ID: 38095606
  • Spencer S, Chung JR, Belongia EA, Sundaram M, Meece J, Coleman LA,...Flannery B. Impact of diabetes status on immunogenicity of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in older adults. Influenza Other Respir Viruses.. 2022 May;16(3):562-567. doi: 10.1101/2021.10.04.21264429.
    PubMed ID: 34859584
  • Sundaram M, Bednarczyk R. Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Spectrum of Parental Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Hesitancy. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2022 July;71(1):4-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.04.004.
    PubMed ID: 35718390
  • Maria E. Sundaram, Andrew Calzavara, Sharmistha Mishra, Rafal Kustra, Adrienne K. Chan, Mackenzie A. Hamilton,...Jeffrey C. Kwong. Individual and social determinants of SARS-CoV-2 testing and positivity in Ontario, Canada: a population-wide study. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2021 May 17; 193(20):E723-E734. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.202608.
  • Sundaram ME, Guterman LB, Omer SB. The True Cost of Measles Outbreaks During the Postelimination Era. JAMA. 2019 March 26; 321(12):1155-1156. PMCID: PMC7249451.
    PubMed ID: 30844023
  • Belongia EA, Skowronski DM, McLean HQ, Chambers C, Sundaram ME, De Serres G. Repeated annual influenza vaccination and vaccine effectiveness: review of evidence. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2017 July; 16(7):1-14.
    PubMed ID: 28562111
  • Belongia EA, Simpson MD, King JP, Sundaram ME, Kelley NS, Osterholm MT, McLean HQ. Variable influenza vaccine effectiveness by subtype: a systematic review and meta-analysis of test-negative design studies. Lancet Infect Dis. 2016 August; 16(8):942-951.
    PubMed ID: 27061888