Rachel Sippy, PhD, MPH

Dr. Rachel Sippy is the founder of EquaData, Research Fellow at Clare Hall, and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge

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About

Dr. Sippy is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on the drivers of long-term genetic diversity among dengue viruses. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Genetics at Iowa State University, then worked as an Assistant Scientist managing a lab at the ISU Veterinary School, putting academic and practical skills into use to study Campylobacter in sheep. After deciding to continue with her studies in public health, she attended the University of Utah where she had the opportunity to work on influenza transmission among schoolchildren and study the relationship between mosquitoes and avian malaria in the Galápagos. Rachel graduated with a Master's in Public Health. She received a T32 training fellowship to complete her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This allowed her to study vector-borne disease transmission with a focus on dengue seasonality and fine-scale climate variability in Ecuador in collaboration with local hospitals. She completed her dissertation: Climate and Environmental Drivers of Dengue Fever in Rural Ecuador in the spring of 2018. She completed a remote postdoctoral research position in 2020, residing at a field site in Machala, Ecuador to study the role of climate and the environment in driving vectorborne and respiratory illnesses.

Rachel currently resides in Cambridge, England. She enjoys traveling, reading, knitting, puzzles, and nearly any outdoor activity, from canoeing to ice climbing.


Publications

* denotes co-first author, # denotes mentee

In Preparation

Sippy R, Herrera D, Gaus D, Bartholomay L, Gangnon R, Osorio J, Patz J. Prediction of Microclimate Variables in Rural Ecuador.

Sippy R, Herrera D, Gaus D, Gangnon R, Osorio J, Patz J. Relationship Between Microclimate and Environmental Variables and Mosquito Abundance in Rural Ecuador

Sippy R, Gangnon R, Barrett B. Impact of Meditation or Exercise on Risk of Acute Respiratory Infections.

Caldwell JM, LaBeaud AD, Lambin EF, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Ndenga BA, Mutuku FM, Krystosik AR, Beltran Ayala E, Anyamba A, Borbor-Cordova MJ, Damoah R, Grossi-Soyster EN, Heras Heras F, Ngugi HN, Ryan SJ, Shah MM, Sippy R, Mordecai EA. Climate explains geographic and temporal variation in mosquito-borne disease dynamics on two continents. In review at Nature Communications January 2020.

Martin JL, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Efraín Beltrán Ayala E, Mordecai EA, Sippy R, Heras Heras F, Blackburn JK, Ryan SJ. Household and climate factors influence Aedes aegypti risk in the arid city of Huaquillas, Ecuador. In review at PLoS Negl Trop Dis May 2020.

Published

Sippy R, Ortiz Prado E, Pizarro-Fajardo F, Hidalgo I, Victoriano-Aguilar G, Bonville CA, Cueva-Aponte C, Salazar-Gómez M, Carrillo-Aponte JL, Borbor Cordova M, Rincón Polo G, Suryadevara M, Domachowske JB. Medically attended outpatient coronavirus infections in Ecuadorean children during the 20 months preceding countrywide lockdown related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic of 2020. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2020 Oct;39(10):e291-e296.

Wilkinson J, Arnold KF, Murray EJ, van Smeden M, Carr K, Sippy R , de Kamps M, Beam A, Konigorski S, Lippert C, Gilthorpe MS, Tennant PWG. It is time to reality check the promises of machine learning-powered precision medicine. Lancet Digital Health. 2020 Sep 16.

Estallo EL, Sippy R, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Grech MG, Benitez EM, Ludueña-Almeida FF, Ainete M, Frias Cespedes M, Robert M, Romero MM, Almirón WR. A decade of arbovirus emergence in the temperate southern cone of South America: dengue, Aedes aegypti and climate dynamics in Córdoba, Argentina. Heliyon. 2020 Sep;6(9):e04858.

Fletcher IK, Stewart-Ibarra A, Sippy R, Carrasco-Escobar G, Silva M, Beltran-Ayala E, Ordoñez T, Adrian J, Sáenz FE, Drakeley C, Jones K, Lowe R. The relative role of climate variation and control interventions on malaria elimination efforts in El Oro, Ecuador: a modelling study. Front Environ Sci. 2020 Aug 27;8:135.

Petrova D, Rodó X, Sippy R, Ballester J, Mejía R, Beltrán-Ayala E, Borbor-Cordova M, Vallejo M, Olmedo A, Stewart-Ibarra A, Lowe R. The 2018-2019 weak El Niño: predicting the risk of a dengue outbreak in Machala, Ecuador. Int J Climatol. 2020 Jul 14.

Pollett S, Johansson M, Biggerstaff M, Morton L, Bazaco S, Brett-Major D, Stewart-Ibarra A, Pavlin J, Mate S, Sippy R, Hartman L, Reich N, Maljkovic Berry I, Chretien J, Althouse B, Meyer D, Viboud C, Rivers C. Identification and evaluation of epidemic prediction and forecasting reporting guidelines: a systematic review and a call for action. Epidemics. 2020 Jul 9;100400.

Sippy R, Lippi C, Stewart Ibarra A, Ryan S. Endemic and Emerging Arboviruses of Mosquitoes in Ecuador. Práctica Familiar Rural. 2020; 5(2).

Sippy R, Lotto M, Bideaux A, Torres I, Narsipur S, Bhargava, Stewart Ibarra A. A national analysis of risk for potential chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Ecuador. Práctica Familiar Rural. 2020; 5(2).

Maljkovic Berry I, Rutvisuttinunt W, Sippy R, Beltrán-Ayala E, Figueroa K, Ryan S, Srikanth A, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Endy T, Jarman RG. The origins of dengue and chikungunya viruses in Ecuador following increased migration from Venezuela and Colombia. BMC Evol Biol. 2020 Feb 19;20(1):31.

Sippy R, Rivera G, Sanchez V, Heras Heras F, Morejón B, Beltrán-Ayala E, Hikida RS, López-Latorre MA, Aguirre A, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Larsen DA, Neira M. Ingested insecticide to control Aedes aegypti Developing a novel dried attractive toxic sugar bait device for intra-domiciliary control. Parasites Vectors. 2020 Feb 17;13(1):78.

Sippy R*, #Farrell D, Lichtenstein D, Nightingale R, Harris M, Toth J, Hantztidiamantis P, #Usher N, Cueva C, Barzallo Aguilar J, Puthumana A, Endy T, Stewart Ibarra AM. Severity Index for Suspected Arbovirus (SISA): Machine Learning for Accurate Prediction of Hospitalization in Subjects Suspected of Arboviral Infection. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2020 Feb 14;14(2):e0007969.

Anderson KB, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Buddhari D, Beltrán-Ayala EF, Sippy RJ , Iamsirithaworn S, Ryan SJ, Fernandez S, Jarman RG, Thomas SJ, Endy TP. Key Findings and Comparisons From Analogous Case-Cluster Studies for Dengue Virus Infection Conducted in Machala, Ecuador, and Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand. Front Public Health 12 Feb 2020;8.

#Farovitch L, Sippy R*, Beltrán-Ayala E, Endy TP, Stewart-Ibarra AM, Leydet B. Tick-borne Disease in Southern Coastal Ecuador: Detection of Antibodies to Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia in Febrile Individuals in 2014 – 2015. AJTMH. 2019 Sep 23.

Mordecai E, Caldwell J, Grossman M, Lippi C, Johnson L, Neira M, Rohr JR, Ryan S, Savage V, Shocket M, Sippy R, Stewart Ibarra, A, Thomas M, Villena O. The thermal biology of mosquito-borne disease. Ecol Lett. 2019 Oct;22(10):1690-1708.

Ryan SJ, Mundis SJ, Aguirre A, Lippi CA, Beltrán E, Heras F, Sanchez V, Borbor-Cordova MJ, Sippy R, StewartIbarra AM, Neira M. Seasonal and geographic variation in insecticide resistance in Aedes aegypti in southern Ecuador. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019;13(6): e0007448.

Sippy R, Herrera D, Gaus D, Gangnon R, Osorio J, Patz J. Seasonal Patterns of Dengue Fever in Rural Ecuador: 2009-2016. PLoS Negl Trop Dis (5): e0007360.

Jaramillo-Ochoa R*, Sippy R*, #Farrell DF, Cueva-Aponte C, Beltran-Ayala E, Gonzaga JL, Ordoñez León T, Quintana FA, Ryan SJ, Stewart-Ibarra AM. Effects of political instability in Venezuela on malaria resurgence at Ecuador-Peru border, 2018. Emerg Infect Dis. 2019 Apr;25(4):834-836.

Sippy R, Moreira F. Aedes albopictus en América del Sur y su relación con la distribución, y mantenimiento de enfermedades. Práctica Familiar Rural. 2016; 3.

Oh CS, Sippy J, Charbonneau B, Hutchinson JC, Romero OE, Barton M, Patel P, Sippy R, Feiss M. DNA Topology and the Initiation of Virus DNA Packaging. PLoS One. 2016 May 4;11(5):e0154785.

Sippy R, Kolesar JE, Darst BF, Engelman CD. Prioritization of Family Member Sequencing for the Detection of Rare Variants. BMC Proc. 2016 Oct 18;10(Suppl 7):227-231.

Sippy J, Patel P, Vahanian N, Sippy R, Feiss M. Genetics of critical contacts and clashes in the DNA packaging specificities of bacteriophages λ and 21. Virol. 2015 Feb;476:115-23.

Wu Z, Sippy R, Sahin O, Plummer P, Vidal A, Newell D, Zhang Q. Genetic diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility of Campylobacter jejuni isolates associated with sheep abortion in the United States and the United Kingdom. J Clin Microbiol. 2014 Jun;52(6):1853-61.

Sippy R, Sandoval-Green CMJ, Sahin O, Plummer P, Fairbanks WS, Zhang Q, Blanchong JA. Occurrence and molecular analysis of Campylobacter in wildlife on livestock farms. Vet Microbiol. 2012 Jun 15;157(3-4):369-75.

Luo Y, Sahin O, Dai L, Sippy R, Wu Z, Zhang Q. Development of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay for rapid, sensitive and specific detection of a Campylobacter jejuni clone. J Vet Med Sci. 2012 May;74(5):591-6.

Sahin O, Fitzgerald C, Stroika S, Zhao S, Sippy R, Kwan P, Plummer P, Han J, Yaeger M, Zhang Q. Molecular Evidence for Zoonotic Transmission of an Emergent Highly Pathogenic Campylobacter jejuni Clone in the United States. J Clin Microbiol. 2012 Mar;50(3):680-7

Plummer P, Sahin O, Burrough E, Sippy R, Mou K, Rabenold J, Yaeger M, Zhang Q. LuxS in the fitness and virulence of Campylobacter jejuni. Infect Immun. 2012 Feb;80(2):585-93.

Book Chapters

Greenwood C, Sippy R, Weinert B, and Adams A. Diet and Nutrition. In Remington PL, Brownson R, Wegner MV: Chronic disease epidemiology and control. 4th Edition. Chapter 8. 2016.


Donations

Please consider donating to my ongoing epidemiological research. All monies donated will go directly towards my research projects, which may include things like supplies, hiring local workers, fees, or lab equipment. If you would like to specify your donation for any particular aspect of my research, please note that in the donation form. THANK YOU!

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News and Links

Cambridge Infectious Diseases Research Center

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University of Florida QDEC Lab Group

ASTMH Travel Award

ASTMH 2019 Teaser Video

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