Alexander J Sundermann

Contributions to Public Health

• Pathogen genomic surveillance for routine infection prevention practice in healthcare. I study how whole-genome sequencing of pathogens can improve infection prevention in healthcare. By routinely sequencing bacteria from patients, we detect outbreaks earlier and more accurately than traditional methods. This genomic surveillance approach reveals hidden transmission and guides faster, targeted interventions. We are also developing machine learning tools that analyze electronic health record data to identify likely transmission routes, enabling more efficient and scalable outbreak investigations across hospitals.
  • Sundermann, A. J., Kumar, P., Griffith, M. P., Waggle, K. D., Rangachar Srinivasa, V., Raabe, N., Mills, E. G., Coyle, H., Ereifej, D., Creager, H. M., Ayres, A., Van Tyne, D., Pless, L. L., Snyder, G. M., Roberts, M., & Harrison, L. H. (2025). Real-Time Genomic Surveillance for Enhanced Healthcare Outbreak Detection and Control: Clinical and Economic Impact. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, ciaf216. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaf216
  • Sundermann, A. J., Chen, J., Kumar, P., Ayres, A. M., Cho, S. T., Ezeonwuka, C., Griffith, M. P., Miller, J. K., Mustapha, M. M., Pasculle, A. W., Saul, M. I., Shutt, K. A., Srinivasa, V., Waggle, K., Snyder, D. J., Cooper, V. S., Van Tyne, D., Snyder, G. M., Marsh, J. W., Dubrawski, A., … Harrison, L. H. (2022). Whole-Genome Sequencing Surveillance and Machine Learning of the Electronic Health Record for Enhanced Healthcare Outbreak Detection. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 75(3), 476–482. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab946
• Advancing surveillance methods for healthcare-associated infections. I collaborate with multi-institutional researchers to define current surveillance approaches, understand their limitations, and map a future path. This work has identified key gaps in existing methods and proposes novel strategies that integrate real-time data analytics and advanced genomic tools to improve detection and prevention of healthcare-associated transmission.
  • Sundermann, A. J., Rosa, R., Harris, P. N. A., Snitkin, E., Javaid, W., Moore, N. M., Hayden, M. K., Allen, K., Rodino, K., Peacock, S. J., Abbo, L. M., & Harrison, L. H. (2025). Pathogen genomics in healthcare: overcoming barriers to proactive surveillance. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 69(1), e0147924. https://doi.org/10.1128/aac.01479-24
  • Sundermann, A. J., Penzelik, J., Ayres, A., Snyder, G. M., & Harrison, L. H. (2023). Sensitivity of National Healthcare Safety Network definitions to capture healthcare-associated transmission identified by whole-genome sequencing surveillance. Infection control and hospital epidemiology, 44(10), 1663–1665. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2023.52
• Evaluation and intervention on mold contaminated healthcare linen. In 2015, I helped lead an investigation into an outbreak of mucormycosis in transplant patients at UPMC. Our team traced the source back to healthcare linens that were contaminated at a third-party, off-site laundry facility. We addressed the issue of contamination and further evaluated the causal issue. We performed a national study of multiple hospitals that revealed high rates of mold contaminated clean linen arriving at hospitals. Taken together, our work in this area can help guide hospitals to identify and address mold contamination of healthcare laundry to increase patient safety.
  • Sundermann, A. J., Clancy, C. J., Pasculle, A. W., Liu, G., Cheng, S., Cumbie, R. B., Driscoll, E., Ayres, A., Donahue, L., Buck, M., Streifel, A., Muto, C. A., & Nguyen, M. H. (2021). Remediation of Mucorales-contaminated Healthcare Linens at a Laundry Facility Following an Investigation of a Case Cluster of Hospital-acquired Mucormycosis. Clinical infectious diseases, ciab638. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab638
  • Sundermann, A. J., Clancy, C. J., Pasculle, A. W., Liu, G., Cumbie, R. B., Driscoll, E., Ayres, A., Donahue, L., Pergam, S. A., Abbo, L., Andes, D. R., Chandrasekar, P., Galdys, A. L., Hanson, K. E., Marr, K. A., Mayer, J., Mehta, S., Morris, M. I., Perfect, J., Revankar, S. G., Nguyen, M. H. (2019). How Clean Is the Linen at My Hospital? The Mucorales on Unclean Linen Discovery Study of Large United States Transplant and Cancer Centers. Clinical infectious diseases, 68(5), 850–853. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciy669
• Investigation into the transmission dynamics and evolution of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus in healthcare. Using whole genome sequencing surveillance of both clinical and rectal screening isolates, we uncovered a high burden of VRE transmission, much of which would have been missed by standard methods. This work demonstrated that colonized patients are key sources of transmission and linked these events to clinical outcomes like ICU admission and mortality. Our findings support the integration of proactive genomic surveillance into routine infection prevention practices.
  • Sundermann, A. J., Rangachar Srinivasa, V., Mills, E. G., Griffith, M. P., Evans, E., Chen, J., Waggle, K. D., Snyder, G. M., Pless, L. L., Harrison, L. H., & Van Tyne, D. (2024). Genomic sequencing surveillance of patients colonized with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) improves detection of hospital-associated transmission. medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences, 2024.05.01.24306710. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.01.24306710
  • Mills, E. G., Hewlett, K., Smith, A. B., Griffith, M. P., Pless, L., Sundermann, A. J., Harrison, L. H., Zackular, J. P., & Van Tyne, D. (2025). Bacteriocin production facilitates nosocomial emergence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium. Nature microbiology, 10(4), 871–881. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-025-01958-0