Coronavirus
As Coronavirus continues to be an issue of international concern, experts at The University of Texas at Austin can provide commentary and insight based on years of research and work in medical and economic fields. Journalists covering the virus can contact the following professors to discuss issues in these areas of concern:
- Infectious Disease
- Vaccination Development
- Economic Impact
- Online Education
- Educating and Occupying Children at Home
If you are seeking expertise on other subjects, please call University Media Relations at 512-471-3151 or consult our general Media Experts Guide.
Infectious Disease

Coburn H Allen
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
, Department of Pediatrics
, Dell Medical School
, challen@seton.org
Media Contact: Shahreen Abedin, shahreen.abedin@austin.utexas.edu, 512-495-5062

Jaquelin P Dudley
Professor
, Department of Molecular Biosciences
, College of Natural Sciences
+1 512 471 8415, +1 512 779 7769, jdudley@austin.utexas.edu
Media Contact: Christine Sinatra, christine.sinatra@austin.utexas.edu, 512-471-4641

Lauren A Meyers
Professor
, Department of Integrative Biology
, College of Natural Sciences
+1 512 471 4950, utpandemics@austin.utexas.edu
- To schedule an interview with Lauren Ancel Meyers, please contact this email: utpandemics@austin.utexas.edu.
Media Contact: Christine Sinatra, christine.sinatra@austin.utexas.edu, 512-471-4641

Kristin E Mondy
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
, Department of Medicine
, kristin.mondy@austin.utexas.edu

Shelley M Payne
Director, LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease
, Department of Molecular Biosciences
, College of Natural Sciences
+1 512 471 9258, payne@utexas.edu
Media Contact: Christine Sinatra, christine.sinatra@austin.utexas.edu, 512-471-4641

Claus O Wilke
Professor
, Department of Integrative Biology
, College of Natural Sciences
+1 512 232 2459, wilke@austin.utexas.edu
- Claus O. Wilke holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, and he is currently the Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professor in Molecular Evolution at The University of Texas at Austin. Wilke studies the evolution of viruses, and he has published nearly 200 scientific papers covering topics in computational biology, molecular evolution, protein biochemistry, and virology. He has also authored several popular R packages used for data visualization, such as cowplot and ggridges, and he is a contributor to the package ggplot2. In 2019, Wilke published the book Fundamentals of Data Visualization, which provides a concise introduction to effectively visualizing many different types of data sets.
Media Contact: Christine Sinatra, christine.sinatra@austin.utexas.edu, 512-471-4641
Vaccination Development

Jason McLellan
Professor
, Department of Molecular Biosciences
, College of Natural Sciences
+1 512 232 1906, jmclellan@austin.utexas.edu
Media Contact: Christine Sinatra, christine.sinatra@austin.utexas.edu, 512-471-4641
Economic Impact

Edward G Anderson
Professor
, Department of Information, Risk, and Operations Management
, Red McCombs School of Business
+1 512 471 6394, edward.anderson@mccombs.utexas.edu
- Supply distribution and hoarding
Media Contact: Judie Kinonen, judie.kinonen@mccombs.utexas.edu,

Julia L Coronado
Clinical Associate Professor
, Department of Finance
, Red McCombs School of Business
, julia.coronado@austin.utexas.edu
- Effects of COVID-19 on the stock market
Media Contact: Judie Kinonen, judie.kinonen@mccombs.utexas.edu,

John N Doggett
Professor of Instruction
, Department of Management
, Red McCombs School of Business
+1 512 232 7671, +1 512 471 3676, john.doggett@mccombs.utexas.edu
- Effects of COVID-19 on the global economy
Media Contact: Judie Kinonen, judie.kinonen@mccombs.utexas.edu,

Bradley M Gold
Lecturer
, Humanities Program
, College of Liberal Arts
, bradley.gold@mccombs.utexas.edu
- General economic impact of COVID-19
Media Contact: Daniel Oppenheimer, oppenheimer@utexas.edu, 512-475-9712

John M Griffin
Professor
, Department of Finance
, Red McCombs School of Business
, john.griffin@mccombs.utexas.edu
- General economic impact of COVID-19
- President Trump's stimulus package
Media Contact: Judie Kinonen, judie.kinonen@mccombs.utexas.edu,

Francisco Polidoro
Professor
, Department of Management
, Red McCombs School of Business
+1 512 471 9187, francisco.polidoro@mccombs.utexas.edu
- Decision making amid uncertainty
Media Contact: Judie Kinonen, judie.kinonen@mccombs.utexas.edu,

Ehud I Ronn
Professor
, Department of Finance
, Red McCombs School of Business
+1 512 471 5853, eronn@mail.utexas.edu
- Effects of COVID-19 on the oil and gas industry
Media Contact: Judie Kinonen, judie.kinonen@mccombs.utexas.edu,
Online Education

Lucas R Horton
Director of Instructional Innovation
, Education - Office of the Dean
+1 512 232 4199, lucas.horton@austin.utexas.edu
- Online learning technology and implementation

Chris J McCarthy
Professor
, Department of Educational Psychology
, College of Education
+1 512 232 4835, cjmccarthy@austin.utexas.edu
- Stress and coping with new learning formats
Media Contact: Kendall Payne, kendall.payne@austin.utexas.edu,
Educating and Occupying Children at Home

Jennifer K Adair
Professor
, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
, College of Education
, jadair@austin.utexas.edu
Spanish Speaker
- Educating and occupying younger children at home
Media Contact: Kendall Payne, kendall.payne@austin.utexas.edu,

Christopher P Brown
Professor
, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy
, College of Education
+1 512 232 2288, cpbrown@utexas.edu
- Educating and occupying younger children at home
Media Contact: Kendall Payne, kendall.payne@austin.utexas.edu,

Keffrelyn D Brown
Professor
, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
, College of Education
+1 512 232 4257, keffrelyn@austin.utexas.edu
- Educating and occupying older children at home
Media Contact: Kendall Payne, kendall.payne@austin.utexas.edu,

Anthony L Brown
Professor
, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
, College of Education
+1 512 232 3902, alb@austin.utexas.edu
- Educating and occupying older children at home
Media Contact: Kendall Payne, kendall.payne@austin.utexas.edu,

Darla M Castelli
Professor
, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education
, College of Education
+1 512 232 7636, dcastelli@utexas.edu
- Educating and occupying younger children at home
Media Contact: Kendall Payne, kendall.payne@austin.utexas.edu,

Stephanie W Cawthon
Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Faculty Fellow
, Department of Educational Psychology
, College of Education
+1 512 471 0378, stephanie.cawthon@austin.utexas.edu
- Accessibility and impact on disabled students, faculty, and staff
Media Contact: Kendall Payne, kendall.payne@austin.utexas.edu,
For more information, contact: University Communications, Office of the President, 512-471-3151.