Anna Wang-Erickson
PhD

Associate Director

Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Education & Training 

Harvard University, Postdoctoral Fellow 

Harvard University, Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology 

Harvard Medical School, Certificate in Human Biology and Translational Medicine 

Princeton University, A.B. in Chemistry 

 

Anna Wang-Erickson, PhD, is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. She is also the associate director of the recently established Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity in Children (i4Kids), a unique joint research effort with the University of Pittsburgh and the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh focused on improving children’s health by fighting infectious and inflammatory diseases through catalyzing new multi-disciplinary collaborations.

Wang-Erickson received her AB in Chemistry, magna cum laude, from Princeton University. She completed her postdoc and PhD as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Harvard University with a certificate from the Leder Human Biology and Translational Medicine program, winning the commencement oration competition to deliver the commencement address in 2015 ("A disruptive, innovative, scalable valuation" ). Before joining the faculty at Pitt, she was based at University College London in the UK, managing the operations and £6.8 million research portfolio of the newly created National Institute for Health Research Global Health (NIHR) Research Unit on Mucosal Pathogens (MPRU), working with research partners on projects across the UK, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda to improve the prevention of pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. She was also responsible for developing the training strategy for the Unit's postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. Wang-Erickson was formerly a Scientific Associate in Computational Biochemistry at DE Shaw Research, LLC in New York City.

Wang-Erickson’s research interests include infectious disease epidemiology, global health, bacterial genetics, vaccines and phage therapy development. Building on her experiences internationally, in academia, and in the private sector, she is also particularly interested in leadership and organizational development to initiate and support the success of complex cross-disciplinary initiatives.

Wang-Erickson has previously served as a resident tutor and sophomore advising coordinator for Harvard College, the Division of Medical Sciences Representative on the Harvard Graduate Student Council Executive Board, and as a mentor scientist for Science Club for Girls.  She also enjoys singing and has performed as part of the Juilliard Choral Union and the Dessoff Choirs at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra and the NHK Symphony.