Monica Malone McNeal, MS

Associate Director, Laboratory of Specialized Clinical Studies
Field Service Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

monica.mcneal@cchmc.org

About

Biography

I direct a Clinical Research Laboratory that supports numerous clinical trials by providing specialized specimen processing and specialized assays. The studies we support are vaccine or surveillance studies that mainly focus on enteric and respiratory pathogens.

Rotavirus vaccine development and research is a primary function of the lab, but we also study influenza and other pathogens in birth cohort studies and surveillance studies. We most recently have been involved with establishing testing for SARS-CoV2.

Our rotavirus work started out by developing a mouse model to answer basic questions on protection against rotavirus infection and disease. We used this model to look at immune responses after the administration of different vaccine strategies. Then, we used the information gained in this model to help with rotavirus vaccine development — which led to the establishment of a rotavirus vaccine that today is used around the world. I have continued the support of rotavirus vaccine development by working with several groups that are using new strategies to increase the effectiveness of rotavirus vaccines in developing countries, where they are needed the most.

I’m honored to have received the Research Team Faculty Award from Cincinnati Children’s in 2018. I have been a researcher for more than 35 years and began working at Cincinnati Children’s in 1995. I am involved in studies with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the pharmaceutical industry and nonprofit organizations, as well as Cincinnati Children’s researchers that benefit from our services.

MS: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 1981.

Interests

Vaccine development; rotavirus; influenza and CMV

Interests

Immunology of rotavirus infection

Research Areas

Infectious Diseases

Publications

Selected

Evidence for Household Transmission of Rotavirus in the United States, 2011-2016. Wikswo, ME; Parashar, UD; Lopman, B; Selvarangan, R; Harrison, CJ; Azimi, PH; Boom, JA; Sahni, LC; Englund, JA; Klein, EJ; Szilagyi, PG; Esona, MD; Bowen, MD; Payne, DC. Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 2021; 9:181-187.

Selected

Rotavirus Reassortant-Induced Murine Model of Liver Fibrosis Parallels Human Biliary Atresia. Mohanty, SK; Lobeck, I; Donnelly, B; Dupree, P; Walther, A; Mowery, S; Coots, A; Bondoc, A; Sheridan, RM; Poling, HM; Temple, H; McNeal, M; Sestak, K; Bansal, R; Tiao, G. Hepatology. 2020; 71:1316-1330.

Selected

Study of Environmental Enteropathy and Malnutrition (SEEM) in Pakistan: protocols for biopsy based biomarker discovery and validation. Iqbal, NT; Syed, S; Sadiq, K; Khan, MN; Iqbal, J; Ma, JZ; Umrani, F; Ahmed, S; Maier, EA; Denson, LA; Kung, VL; Gordon, JI; Moore, SR; Ali, SA. BMC Pediatrics. 2019; 19:247.

Selected

Association of Rotavirus Vaccination With Inpatient and Emergency Department Visits Among Children Seeking Care for Acute Gastroenteritis, 2010-2016. Payne, DC; Englund, JA; Weinberg, GA; Halasa, NB; Boom, JA; Staat, MA; Selvarangan, R; Azimi, PH; Klein, EJ; Szilagyi, PG; Wikswo, ME; Sulemana, I; Bowen, MD; Parashar, UD. JAMA network open. 2019; 2:e1912242.

Selected

Rotavirus Vaccine Take in Infants Is Associated With Secretor Status. Armah, GE; Cortese, MM; Dennis, FE; Yu, Y; Morrow, AL; McNeal, MM; Lewis, KD C; Awuni, DA; Armachie, J; Parashar, UD. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2019; 219:746-749.

Selected

Safety and immunogenicity of a parenteral P2-VP8-P[8] subunit rotavirus vaccine in toddlers and infants in South Africa: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Groome, MJ; Koen, A; Fix, A; Page, N; Jose, L; Madhi, SA; McNeal, M; Dally, L; Cho, I; Power, M; Flores, J; Cryz, S. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2017; 17:843-853.

Selected

Secretor and Salivary ABO Blood Group Antigen Status Predict Rotavirus Vaccine Take in Infants. Kazi, AM; Cortese, MM; Yu, Y; Lopman, B; Morrow, AL; Fleming, JA; McNeal, MM; Steele, AD; Parashar, UD; Zaidi, AK M; Ali, A. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2017; 215:786-789.

Selected

A Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Impact of Alternative Dosing Schedules on the Immune Response to Human Rotavirus Vaccine in Rural Ghanaian Infants. Armah, G; Lewis, KD C; Cortese, MM; Parashar, UD; Ansah, A; Gazley, L; Victor, JC; McNeal, MM; Binka, F; Steele, AD. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2016; 213:1678-1685.

Selected

Safety and Immunogenicity of Sequential Rotavirus Vaccine Schedules. Libster, R; McNeal, M; Walter, EB; Shane, AL; Winokur, P; Cress, G; Berry, AA; Kotloff, KL; Sarpong, K; Turley, CB; El-Khorazaty, J; Barrett, J; Edwards, KM; Work, VT E U R V S. Pediatrics. 2016; 137:e20152603.

Sustained Within-season Vaccine Effectiveness Against Influenza-associated Hospitalization in Children: Evidence From the New Vaccine Surveillance Network, 2015-2016 Through 2019-2020. Sahni, LC; Naioti, EA; Olson, SM; Campbell, AP; Michaels, MG; Williams, JV; Staat, MA; Schlaudecker, EP; McNeal, MM; Halasa, NB; Piedra, PA; Munoz, FM; Patel, MM; Boom, JA. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2023; 76:e1031-e1039.