J Kenneth Wickiser, PhD

  • Associate Professor of Population and Family Health at CUMC
Profile Headshot

Overview

J. Ken Wickiser is the Administrative Director for the Global Alliance for Preventing Pandemics (GAPP) and is dedicated to capacity building through workforce development and democratization of technology to provide public health professionals in the Global South every opportunity to independently identify and contain pathogen outbreaks. We focus on sharing sustainable technologies and best technical practices involving sequencing, serological, and rapid diagnostics tools so public health teams are poised to achieve their very different goals addressing their varied and evolving needs. We work closely with the US CDC, NIAID, WHO, GOARN, foundations dedicated to global health and medical equity, and local and regional ministries of health and education to address human health, and the ministries of livestock & fisheries to help address food security while fostering a culture of the open sharing of data.

Prior to joining GAPP and HDPFH as an associate professor, Dr. Wickiser served as a faculty member  at West Point, where he was most recently the Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Biochemistry. As Associate Dean, Dr. Wickiser was responsible for the safe, legal, ethical, and appropriate conduct of research endeavors at West Point by students, staff, and faculty across all academic disciplines. He focused on building collaborative teams with leaders in supporting fields in academia, industry, and government.  

Dr. Wickiser also served on the Collaborative Academic Institutional Review Board at West Point and was a member of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Biotechnology Community of Interest and the Engineering Biology Research Consortium’s Education Working Group.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor of Population and Family Health at CUMC

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • BS, 1992 United States Military Academy
  • MS, 2001 University of Alabama
  • M.Phil, 2005 Yale University
  • PhD, 2005 Yale University

Research

Dr. Wickiser has built a training curriculum to share best technical practices with lab scientists, clinicians, and public health leaders.  Since May 2022, GAPP has trained professionals from Mali, Zambia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Bangladesh here in New York while building regional support networks so alumni and GAPP members are able to collaborate, address supply chain challenges, and share data.  Dr. Wickiser coordinates training and capacity building activities with NIH, CDC, Ministries of Health, Fisheries and Livestock, and Education, the Global Fund, and other public health-supporting foundations, educational institutions, and industry in order to develop sustainable and effective systems and teams dedicated to addressing pandemic prevention and outbreak response.

Dr. Wickiser is dedicated to equity and justice in public health and global health security and seeks to build collaborative and interdisciplinary teams to build public health capacity in the communities needing it most. The relationships require trust, respect, and honesty to positively impact and facilitate public health leaders on their path to achieving the independence described in the International Health Regulations of 2005.

Research Interests

  • Global Health
  • Infectious Diseases

Selected Publications

Armstrong M, Baker J, Trump J, Milner E, Wickiser JK, Cameron K, Clark N, Schwarting K, Brown T, Bailey D, James C, Nguyen C, Corrigan T. Structure-rheology elucidation of human blood via SPP framework and TEVP modeling. Korea-Australia Rheology Journal. 2021;33(1):45-63. doi: 10.1007/s13367-021-0005-1

Thomas DM, Wickiser JK. Obesity and Nutrition: Physiological Studies. Handbook of Research Methods in Health Psychology, 1st Edition. 2020.

Eslinger M, Washington MA, Pekny C, Nepa N, Wickiser JK, Limbocker RA, Shanks GD. Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions and Military Hygiene at the United States Military Academy between 1890 and 1910. Mil Med. 2020;185(11-12):e2104-e2109. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usaa226

Prebihalo SE, Ochoa Gs, Berrier KL, Skogerboe KJ, Cameron KL, Trump JR, Svoboda SJ, Wickiser JK, Synovec RE. Control-Normalized Fisher Ratio Analysis of Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry Data for Enhanced Biomarker Discovery in a Metabolomic Study of Orthopedic Knee-Ligament Injury. Anal Chem. 2020;92(23):15526-15533. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c03456

Beal J, Farny NG, Haddock-Angelli T, Selvarajah V, Baldwin GS, Buckley-Taylor R, Gershater M, Kiga D, Marken J, Sanchania V, Sison A, Workman CT, iGEM Interlab Study Contributors. Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density. Commun Biol. 2020;3(1):512. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01127-5

Houston MN, O'Donovan KJ, Trump JR, Bordeur RM, McGinty GT, Wickiser JK, D'Lauro CJ, Jackson JC, Svoboda SJ, Susmarksi AJ, Broglio SP, McAllister TW, McCrea MA, Pasquina P, Cameron KL. Progress and Future Directions of the NCAA-DoD Concussion Assessment, Research, and Education (CARE) Consortium and Mind Matters Challenge at the US Service Academies. Front Neurol. 2020;11:542733. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.542733

Burpo FJ, Losch AR, Nagelli EA, Winter SJ, Bartolucci SF, McClure JP, Baker DR, Bui JK, Burns AR, O'Brien SF, Forcherio GT, Aikin BR, Healy KM, Remondelli MH, Mitropoulos AN, Richardson L, Wickier JK, Chu DD. A Salt-Templated Synthesis Method for Porous Platium-based Macrobeams and Macrotubes. J Vis Exp. 2020;18(159). doi: 10.3791/61395

Weiss T, Zhu P, White H, Posner M, Wickiser JK, Washington MA, Barnhill J. Latent Lyme Disease Resulting in Chronic Arthritis and Early Career Termination in a United States Army Officer. Mil Med. 2019;184(7-8):e368-e370. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usz026

Cave JW, Wickiser JK, Mitropoulos AN. Progress in the development of olfactory-based bioelectronic chemosensors. Bionsens Bioelectron. 2019;123:211-222. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2018.08.063