• Maria Sundaram PhD, MSPH

  • Associate Research Scientist


    • 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

  • 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. Open Forum Infectious Diseases. 2025 April;12(4):ofaf166. 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
  • Sundaram ME, Christianson B, Alonge OD, Doan M, Ljungman H, Polter E,...VanWormer JJ [including Bendixsen CG, Belongia EA, Nguyen HQ.] Young adult perspectives on deciding to get human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in urban and rural communities: A qualitative research study. [published online ahead of print 2025 June 11]. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 21(1):2508572. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2025.2508572. PMCID: PMC12160599.
    PubMed ID: 40498650
  • 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
  • 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
  • VanWormer JJ, Alicea G, Weichelt BP, Berg RL, Sundaram ME. COVID-19 vaccine coverage disparities in rural and farm children. [published online ahead of print 2022 November 14]. VACCINE.
    PubMed ID: 36400661
  • Sundaram ME, Kieke BA, Hanson KE, Belongia EA, Weintraub ES, Daley MF,...Donahue JG. Extended surveillance to assess safety of 9-valent human papillomavirus vaccine. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2022 December 30; 18(7):2159215.
    PubMed ID: 36577134
  • 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
  • Talbot HK, Coleman LA, Zhu Y, Spencer SK, Thompson M, Cheng P,...Griffin MR [including Sundaram ME, Belongia EA.] Factors associated with maintenance of antibody responses to influenza vaccine in older, community-dwelling adults. BMC Infect Dis.. 2015 April 23; 15(1):195.
    PubMed ID: 25903659
  • Belongia EA, Sundaram ME, McClure DL, Meece JK, Ferdinands J, VanWormer JJ. Waning vaccine protection against influenza A (H3N2) illness in children and older adults during a single season. VACCINE. 2015 January 1; 33(1):246-51.
    PubMed ID: 24962752
  • Sundaram ME, Meece JK, Sifakis F, Gasser R, Belongia EA. Medically attended respiratory syncytial virus infections in adults aged >=50 years: clinical characteristics and outcomes. CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 2014 February; 58(3):342-9.
    PubMed ID: 24265361
  • Sundaram ME, McClure DL, VanWormer JJ, Friedrich TC, Meece JK, Belongia EA. Influenza Vaccination is Not Associated with Detection of Non-Influenza Respiratory Viruses in Seasonal Studies of Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness. CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 2013 September; 57(6):789-793.
    PubMed ID: 23748138
  • Maria Sundaram, Edward Belongia, JG Petrie. Early estimates of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness--United States, January 2013. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2013 January 18; 62(2):32-5. PMCID: PMC4604840.
    PubMed ID: 23325354