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Anna Wang-Erickson, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Anna Wang-Erickson, PhD, is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. Her research integrates genomic epidemiology with functional and structural analysis to determine how and why pathogens are evolving. Her current research focus is on human metapneumovirus (HMPV), a leading cause of lung infection and hospitalization in children. From 2019-2024, she also served as the inaugural associate director of the Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and Immunity in Children (i4Kids), a joint research effort between the University of Pittsburgh and the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Wang-Erickson received her AB in Chemistry, magna cum laude, from Princeton University.  She completed her postdoc and PhD in bacterial genetics as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Harvard University with a certificate from the Leder Human Biology and Translational Medicine program. In 2015, she won the commencement oration competition to deliver the commencement address ("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 Research Unit on Mucosal Pathogens. She worked with research partners 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.

Drawing on her experiences in global health, academia, and the private sector, she is particularly interested in strengthening leadership and organizational structures that advance complex cross-disciplinary initiatives.   

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • Sigma Xi
  • American Society of Microbiology
  • Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society

Education & Training

  • AB, magna cum laude, Princeton University, 2006
  • PhD, Harvard University, 2015
  • Certificate in Human Biology and Translational Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 2015
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, 2015-2017

Selected Publications

Ye X, Yue M, Lee S, Li A, Wang-Erickson AF, Forno E, Eddens T, Shaikh N, Chen W. Dual-transcriptomic analysis of human nasal transcriptome and microbiome reveals host-bacteria associations in symptomatic respiratory infection. BMC Genomics. 2026 Jun 22. 

Pless LL, Damodaran L, Pomponio R, Patrick R, Griffith MP, Walters S, Waggle KD, Pleskovitch A, Rangachar Srinivasa V, Varela CA, Harrison LH, Barton JP, Moncla LH, Michaels MG, Williams JV, Wang-Erickson AF. Emergence and epidemiology of dominant variants of human metapneumovirus in the United States between 2016 and 2021. mBio. 2026 Feb 11;17(2):e0261925.

Rangachar Srinivasa V, Griffith MP, Sundermann AJ, Mills E, Raabe NJ, Waggle KD, Shutt KA, Phan T, Wang-Erickson AF, Snyder GM, Van Tyne D, Pless LL, Harrison LH. Genomic epidemiology of healthcare-associated respiratory virus infections in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2018-2020. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 2025 Nov 4:1-11.

Goldstein LA, Michaels MG, Salthouse A, Toepfer AP, Musa S, Hickey RW, Johnson M, Wang-Erickson AF, Weinberg GA, Szilagyi PG, Schlaudecker EP, Staat MA, Sahni LC, Boom JA, Klein EJ, Englund JA, Schuster JE, Selvarangan R, Harrison CJ, Halasa NB, Stewart LS, Dawood FS, Moline HL, Williams JV. Human Metapneumovirus and Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Children: A Comparative Analysis. Pediatrics. 2025 Sep 1;156(3):e2024070218.

Wang-Erickson AF*, Zhang X, Dauer K, Zerr DM, Adler A, Englund JA, Lee B, Schuster JE, Selvarangan R, Rohlfs C, Staat MA, Sahni LC, Boom JA, Balasubramani GK, Williams JV, Michaels MG. Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Children Identified by Preprocedural Testing at 5 US Children's Hospital Systems. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 2025 Jan 1;44(1):47-53. *corresponding author

Li A, Yue M, Ye X, Gaietto K, Wang-Erickson AF, Chen W. Diversity and Meta-Analysis of Microbial Differential Abundance in Nasal Metatranscriptomic Profiles of Asthma. Journal of Respiratory Biology and Translational Medicine. 2024 Dec;1(4):10018. 

Shope TR, Chedid K, Hashikawa AN, Martin ET, Sieber MA, Des Ruisseau G, Williams JV, Wheeler SE, Johnson M, Stiegler M, D'Agostino H, Balasubramani GK, Yahner KA, Wang-Erickson AF. Incidence and Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in US Child Care Centers After COVID-19 Vaccines. JAMA Network Open. 2023 Oct 2;6(10):e2339355. Media coverage: https://jamanetwork.altmetric.com/details/155697301/news

Wang Erickson AF, Deighan P, Chen S, Barrasso K, Garcia CP, Martínez-Lumbreras S, Alfano C, Krysztofinska EM, Thapaliya A, Camp AH, Isaacson RL, Hochschild A, Losick R. A novel RNA polymerase-binding protein that interacts with a sigma-factor docking site. Molecular Microbiology. 2017 Aug;105(4):652-662

Wang Erickson AF, Deighan P, Garcia CP, Weinzierl ROJ, Hochschild A, Losick R. An Amino Acid Substitution in RNA Polymerase That Inhibits the Utilization of an Alternative Sigma Factor. Journal of Bacteriology. 2017 Jun 27;199(14):e00277-17.

Flanagan KA, Comber JD, Mearls E, Fenton C, Wang Erickson AF, Camp AH. A Membrane-Embedded Amino Acid Couples the SpoIIQ Channel Protein to Anti-Sigma Factor Transcriptional Repression during Bacillus subtilisSporulation. Journal of Bacteriology. 2016 Apr 14;198(9):1451-63. 

Traag BA, Ramirez-Peralta A, Wang Erickson AF, Setlow P, Losick R. A novel RNA polymerase-binding protein controlling genes involved in spore germination in Bacillus subtilis. Molecular Microbiology. 2013 Jul;89(1):113-22. doi: 10.1111/mmi.12262.

Camp AH, Wang AF, Losick R. A small protein required for the switch from sF to sG during sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. Journal of Bacteriology. 2011 Jan;193(1):116-24. 

Arai R, Kobayashi N, Kimura A, Sato T, Matsuo K, Wang AF, Platt JM, Bradley LH, Hecht MH. Domain-swapped dimeric structure of a stable and functional de novo four-helix bundle protein, WA20. Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 2012 Jun 14;116(23):6789-97. 

Bradley LH, Kleiner RE, Wang AF, Hecht MH, Wood DW. An intein-based genetic selection allows the construction of a high-quality library of binary patterned de novo protein sequences. Protein Engineering Design and Selection. 2005 Apr;18(4):201-7.

MyNCBI Bibliography

Academic and Research Interests

  • Viruses and bacteria
  • Genomic epidemiology
  • Microbial avolution
  • Transcription
  • Global heatlh

Research Grants

NIH NIAID 1K01AI177755, Genomic Epidemiology of Human Metapneumovirus in the United States (PI), 2026-2031; $939,661

 NIH NCATS 5KL2TR001856, University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute (Scholar), 2023-2026

 I4Kids Pilot Grant (Coordinating PI), 2025-2026; $50,000

 University of Pittsburgh Competitive Medical Research Fund (PI), 2022-2024; $40,000

CTSI Pitt Public Health Trans-Disciplinary Collaboration Pilot Award (Co-PI), 2022-2023; $45,000

CDC U01IP001152, New Vaccine Surveillance Network (Co-I), 2021-2026; $9.6M

RK Mellon Foundation, Prevention and Cure of Acute Flaccid Myelitis (Co-I), 2020-2023; $1.5M

Merck Investigator Studies Program, SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance in Child Care Centers (Co-I), 2020-2023; $422,964

Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fund UNS96843, All for One: vaccine education (Operational Lead; Advisory Board), 2019-2021; £156,802