My primary research interest is the application of epidemiologic approaches to investigate the ecology and transmission of Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens among a wide variety of hosts, ranging from dairy cattle to wild birds. Overarching goals are to enhance food safety, improve health among animal populations, and mitigate the emergence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance.

• Ph.D., Comparative Biomedical Sciences (Epidemiology) – Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 2010.
• DVM – College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1996.
• Bachelor of Arts with High Honors (Biology), magna cum laude – Kenyon College, Gambier, OH, 1992.

• 2017 – present: Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University.
• 2011 – 2017: Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University (Approved for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, 2017).
• 2012 – 2017: Joint Assistant Professor, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center.
• 2009 – present: Adjunct Instructor, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota.
• 2006 – 2010: Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University.
• 2002 – 2010: Instructor (Veterinary Practice), Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University.
• 1996 – 2001: Practicing Veterinarian.

1. Cummings KJ, Divers TJ, McDonough PL, Warnick LD.  Fecal shedding of Salmonella spp among cattle admitted to a veterinary medical teaching hospital.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 2009; 234: 1578–1585.
2. Cummings KJ, Warnick LD, Alexander KA, Cripps CJ, Gröhn YT, McDonough PL, Nydam DV, Reed KE.  The incidence of salmonellosis among dairy herds in the northeastern United States.  Journal of Dairy Science 2009; 92: 3766–3774.
3. Cummings KJ, Warnick LD, Alexander KA, Cripps CJ, Gröhn YT, James KL, McDonough PL, Reed KE.  The duration of fecal Salmonella shedding following clinical disease among dairy cattle in the northeastern USA.  Preventive Veterinary Medicine 2009; 92: 134–139.
4. Cummings KJ, Divers TJ, McDonough PL, Switt AI, Wiedmann M, Warnick LD.  Temporal clusters of bovine Salmonella cases at a veterinary medical teaching hospital, 1996 – 2007.  Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases 2010; 10: 471–479.
5. Cummings KJ, Warnick LD, Elton M, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Siler JD, Wright EM, Gröhn YT, Wiedmann M.  Salmonella enterica serotype Cerro among dairy cattle in New York: an emerging pathogen?  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2010; 7: 659–665.
6. Cummings KJ, Warnick LD, Elton M, Gröhn YT, McDonough PL, Siler JD.  The effect of clinical outbreaks of salmonellosis on the prevalence of fecal Salmonella shedding among dairy cattle in New York.  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2010; 7: 815–823.
7. Hoelzer K, Soyer Y, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Cummings KJ, McDonough PL, Schoonmaker-Bopp DJ, Root TP, Dumas NB, Warnick LD, Gröhn YT, Wiedmann M, Baker KN, Besser TE, Hancock DD, Davis MA.  The prevalence of multidrug resistance is higher among bovine than human Salmonella enterica serotype Newport, Typhimurium, and 4,5,12:i:- isolates in the United States but differs by serotype and geographic region.  Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2010; 76: 5947–5959.
8. Hoelzer K, Cummings KJ, Wright EM, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Roof SE, Switt AI, Dumas N, Root T, Schoonmaker-Bopp DJ, Gröhn YT, Siler JD, Warnick LD, Hancock DD, Davis MA, Wiedmann M.  Salmonella Cerro isolated over the past twenty years from various sources in the US represent a single predominant Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis type.   Veterinary Microbiology 2011; 150: 389–393.
9. Hoelzer K, Cummings KJ, Warnick LD, Schukken YH, Siler JD, Gröhn YT, Davis MA, Besser TE, Wiedmann M.  Agar disk diffusion and automated microbroth dilution produce similar antimicrobial sensitivity typing results for Salmonella serotypes Newport, Typhimurium and 4,5,12:i-  but differ in economic cost.  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2011.  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2011; 8: 1281–1288.
10. Wakshlag JJ, Struble AM, Warren BS, Maley M, Panasevich MR, Cummings KJ, Long GM, Laflamme DP.  Evaluation of dietary energy intake and physical activity in dogs undergoing a controlled weight-loss program.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 2012; 240: 413–419.
11. Cummings KJ, Warnick LD, Davis MA, Eckmann K, Gröhn YT, Hoelzer K, MacDonald JK, Root TP, Siler JD, McGuire SM, Wiedmann M, Wright EM, Zansky SM, Besser TE.  Farm animal contact as risk factor for transmission of bovine-associated Salmonella subtypes.  Emerging Infectious Diseases 2012; 18: 1929–1936.
12. Cummings KJ, Warnick LD, Gröhn YT, Hoelzer K, Root TP, Siler JD, McGuire SM, Wright EM, Zansky SM, Wiedmann M.  Clinical features of human salmonellosis caused by bovine-associated subtypes in New York.  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2012; 9: 796–802.
13. Cummings KJ, Perkins GA, Khatibzadeh SM, Warnick LD, Altier C.  Antimicrobial resistance trends among Salmonella isolates obtained from dairy cattle in the northeastern United States, 2004–2011.  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2013; 10: 353–361.
14. Switt AI, den Bakker HC, Vongkamjan K, Hoelzer K, Warnick LD, Cummings KJ, Wiedmann M.  Salmonella bacteriophage diversity reflects host diversity on dairy farms.  Food Microbiology 2013; 36: 275–285.
15. Cummings KJ, Aprea VA, Altier C.  Antimicrobial resistance trends among Escherichia coli isolates obtained from dairy cattle in the northeastern United States, 2004–2011.  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2014; 11: 61–67.
16. Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Wright EM, Siler JD, Elton M, Cummings KJ, Warnick LD, Wiedmann M.  Subtype analysis of Salmonella isolated from subclinically infected dairy cattle and dairy farm environments in New York reveals the presence of both human- and bovine-associated subtypes.  Veterinary Microbiology 2014; 170: 307–316.
17. Cummings KJ, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Mitchell KJ, Hoelzer K, Wiedmann M, McDonough PL, Altier C, Warnick LD, Perkins GA.  Salmonella enterica serovar Oranienburg outbreak in a veterinary medical teaching hospital with evidence of nosocomial and on-farm transmission.  Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases 2014; 14: 496–502.
18. Watts AE, Ness SL, Divers TJ, Fubini SL, Frye AH, Stokol T, Cummings KJ, Brooks MB.  Effects of clopidogrel on horses with experimentally induced endotoxemia.  American Journal of Veterinary Research 2014; 75: 760–769.
19. Cummings KJ, Aprea VA, Altier C.  Antimicrobial resistance trends among canine Escherichia coli isolates obtained from clinical samples in the northeastern USA, 2004–2011.  Canadian Veterinary Journal 2015; 56: 393–398.
20. Pereira RV, Siler JD, Cummings KJ, Davis MA, Warnick LD.  Effect of heifer-raising practices on E. coli antimicrobial resistance and Salmonella prevalence in heifer raisers.  Epidemiology and Infection 2015; 143: 3256–3265.
21. Cummings KJ, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Grigar MK, Rankin SC, Mesenbrink BT, Leland BR, Bodenchuk MJ.  Prevalence and characterization of Salmonella isolated from feral pigs throughout Texas.  Zoonoses and Public Health 2016; 63: 436–441.
22. Leahy AM, Cummings KJ, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Rankin SC, Hamer SA.  Evaluation of faecal Salmonella shedding among dogs at seven animal shelters across Texas.  Zoonoses and Public Health 2016; 63: 515–521.
23. Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Cummings KJ, Loneragan GH, Rankin SC, Hanson DL, Leone WM, Edrington TS.  Salmonella prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility among dairy farm environmental samples collected in Texas.  Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 2016; 13: 205–211.
24. Cummings KJ, Perkins GA, Khatibzadeh SM, Warnick LD, Aprea VA, Altier C.  Antimicrobial resistance trends among Salmonella isolates obtained from horses in the northeastern USA, 2001–2013.  American Journal of Veterinary Research 2016; 77: 505–513.
25. Comeaux JM, Curtis-Robles R, Lewis BC, Cummings KJ, Mesenbrink BT, Leland BR, Bodenchuk MJ, Hamer SA.  Survey of feral swine (Sus scrofa) infection with the agent of Chagas disease (Trypanosoma cruzi) in Texas, 2013–2014.  Journal of Wildlife Diseases 2016; 52: 627–630.
26. Watts AE, Dabareiner R, Marsh C, Carter GK, Cummings KJ.  A randomized, controlled trial of the effects of resveratrol administration in performance horses with lameness localized to the distal tarsal joints.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 2016; 249: 650–659.
27. Ruoff CM, Eichelberger BM, Pool RR, Griffin JF, Cummings KJ, Pozzi A, Padua A, Saunders WB.  The use of small field-of-view 3 tesla magnetic resonance imaging for identification of articular cartilage defects in the canine stifle: an ex vivo cadaveric study.  Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound 2016; 57: 601–610.
28. Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Cummings KJ, McNeely I, Suchodolski JS, Scorza AV, Lappin MR, Mesenbrink BT, Leland BR, Bodenchuk MJ.  Prevalence and diversity of Cryptosporidium and Giardia identified among feral pigs in Texas.  Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases 2016; 16: 765–768.
29. Acosta AR, Van Wie E, Stoughton WB, Bettis AK, Barnett HH, LaBrie NR, Balog-Alvarez CJ, Nghiem PP, Cummings KJ, Kornegay JN.  Use of the six-minute walk test to characterize Golden Retriever muscular dystrophy.  Neuromuscular Disorders 2016; 26: 865–872.
30. Grigar MK, Cummings KJ, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Rankin SC, Johns K, Hamer GL, Hamer SA.  Salmonella surveillance among Great-tailed Grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus) and other urban bird species in eastern Texas.  Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases 2016; 16: 752–757.
31. Cummings KJ, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Norman KN, Ohta N, Scott HM.  Identification of a plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance gene in Salmonella isolates from Texas dairy farm environmental samples.  Zoonoses and Public Health 2017; 64: 305–307.
32. Joswig AJ, Mitchell A, Cummings KJ, Levine GJ, Gregory CA, Smith R, Watts AE.  Repeated intra-articular injection of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells causes an adverse response compared to autologous cells in the equine model.  Stem Cell Research & Therapy 2017; 8: 42.
33. Kovac J, Cummings KJ, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Carroll LM, Thachil A, Wiedmann M.  Temporal genomic phylogeny reconstruction indicates a geospatial transmission path of Salmonella Cerro in the United States and a clade-specific loss of hydrogen sulfide production.  Frontiers in Microbiology 2017; 8: 737.
34. Leahy AM, Cummings KJ, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, Hamer SA, Lawhon SD.  Fecal Campylobacter shedding among dogs in animal shelters across Texas.  Zoonoses and Public Health; Epub ahead of print, March 2017.
35. Coleman MC, Belknap J, Eades S, Galantino-Homer H, Hunt R, Geor R, McCue M, McIlwraith W, Moore R, Peroni J, Townsend H, White N, Cummings KJ, Ivanek R, Cohen ND.  Case-control study of pasture- and endocrinopathy-associated laminitis in horses.  Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association; In press.
36. Grigar MK, Cummings KJ, Rankin SC.  Prevalence of Salmonella among waterfowl along the Texas Gulf coast.  Zoonoses and Public Health; In press.
37. McAtee BB, Cummings KJ, Cook AK, Lidbury JA, Heseltine JC, Willard MD.  Opportunistic invasive cutaneous fungal infections associated with administration of cyclosporine to dogs with immune-mediated disease.  Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine; In press.
38. Cummings KJ, Rodriguez–Rivera LD, McNeely I, Suchodolski JS, Mesenbrink BT, Leland BR, Bodenchuk MJ.  Fecal shedding of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli among feral pigs in Texas.  Zoonoses and Public Health; In press.

• Editorial Advisory Board, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2015–present.
• Biosafety and Biosecurity Section Oral Presentation Award for first place, Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD), 2008.

TBD