Professor Christine McGrath
and Global Health Research
Written by Kaushik Komandur
Edited by Kai Yuan
Illustrated by Tiia Freeman
As you read through all of the wonderful articles
in this journal, it is easy to recognize the far-reaching
implications of microbiology on so many different
aspects of our health. The advancements being made
today in microbiology labs have the potential to
improve health outcomes worldwide. However, I
would argue that the implementation of this research
into high burden settings -and the people behind it-
are just as important.
Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with
epidemiologist and UW Global Health Assistant
Professor Christine McGrath. Professor McGrath
conducts research on pediatric infectious disease
interventions in Kenya. In my conversation with her,
we discussed her path into global health and the
relevance of global health research, including its
relationship with microbiology.
Professor McGrath grew up in Texas and studied
biology at Texas A&M University, with minors in
chemistry and German. She was always interested in
working on children’s health and was excited about
understanding risk factors associated with childhood
diseases. This led to her pursue a Master’s in Public
Health in epidemiology, during which time she
became increasingly interested in global child health.
While it was initially hard for her to find
opportunities to work in these fields, she was able to
conduct domestic research on alcohol use and
domestic violence in minority groups. This experience
helped her gain research skills and learn more about
issues such as acculturation and health disparities,
which are commonly discussed when researching
global health.
As she continued to become more interested in
research, Professor McGrath pursued a PhD in
epidemiology at the University of Washington. In
addition to providing her with a concrete academic
grounding in epidemiology, she was able to leverage
her prior experience into a research assistant position
with the Hope Center for Infectious Diseases in Kenya.
This work was in line with her interest in child’s
health and provided an opportunity to interact with
Kenyan clinicians and mentors to learn more about
health and growth outcomes in HIV-exposed infants.
Today, Professor McGrath continues to work on
projects related to the health of HIV-exposed children.
One exciting project is a study looking at the
relationship between sugars or oligosaccharides in
human breast milk and morbidity and growth in HIV-
exposed uninfected infants. Previous research has
shown that HIV-exposed uninfected infants are more
susceptible to infectious diseases and poor growth
than unexposed infants. A proposed mechanism
behind this difference are perturbations to the gut
bacteria in HIV-exposed infants. Interestingly, the
composition of gut bacteria plays an important role in
the establishment and efficacy of an infant’s immune
system. Early evidence has shown that the bacterial
composition of the gut in HIV-exposed infants differs
from HIV-unexposed infants and these differences
may influence the immune system and thus, increase
infection risk and poor growth. Human breast milk is
an important mediator of gut bacteria development
and sugars in milk can be good determinants of the
bacterial species which colonize the gut. Therefore,
the study is an important examination into the unique
sugars in the breast milk of mothers living with and
without HIV and the influence of these milk sugars on
the infant gut microbiome. This will allow researchers
to identify pathways by which breast milk influences
the infant gut microbiome and immunity
 Spring 2021
and provide opportunities for therapeutic
interventions. If you are interested in learning more
about microbial communities, check out ENV H 409:
Microbiome and Environmental Health.
When discussing her projects, Professor McGrath
was also able to describe the important relationship
between microbiologists and global health
practitioners. Often, microbiological insights
underpinning critical diseases are useful to global
health practitioners who are designing interventions
and epidemiological studies. Furthermore, novel
health concerns in global health will often
necessitate animal studies regarding specific
biological mechanisms.
Professor McGrath
mentioned that her breast
milk study incorporated
work on gut microbial
communities and
malnutrition led by Dr. Jeff
Gordon at Washington
University in St. Louis.
I ended the interview
with questions on COVID-
19 and the direction of
global health. Professor
McGrath said that COVID-
19 has shown the
devastating impact of
global pandemic and how
interconnected our world
is. She spoke about how, even as the pandemic has
caused a great deal of pain, she believes that it has
allowed people to become more aware of health
issues and to prioritize global health (including a
larger focus on ubiquitous testing and data
collection).
We had a brief conversation about how global
health could foster a better sense of equity in the
future. Professor McGrath mentioned that
researchers in global health need to do a better job of
prioritizing bidirectional communication and in-
country leadership and representation when setting
priorities to prevent a situation where a study funder
has different priorities than the population. She also
expressed support for programs which more equitably
distribute funding to low and middle-income
countries and enable bidirectional training. Professor
McGrath’s work demonstrates how global health and
microbiology research can be effectively applied to
improve the quality of life for people all over the
world. The research she conducts would not be
possible without her local partners and people
passionate about global
health (field workers,
clinicians, support staff,
etc) and an
understanding of the
ways microbiology
impacts human health. If
you are interested in
learning more about her
work, you can contact her
at mcgrathc@uw.edu. She
also teaches GH 402:
Current Research and
Programs in Global
Health (a microbiology
elective).
Regarding opportunities for undergraduates (or
recent graduates) in public health, Professor McGrath
mentioned student opportunities such as the annual
UW Global Healthies event and practicums with faculty
as well as programs with the local health department,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps. She suggested that
interested undergraduates talk to faculty about
potentially assisting with ongoing projects.