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Marilyn Felkner

  • Clinical Assistant Professor
  • Human Ecology
  • Public Health
marilyn.felkner@austin.utexas.edu
GEA
123

  • M 9:00AM - 12:00PM
  • Tu 2:00PM - 3:00PM
  • Th 2:00PM - 3:00PM

Biography

Marilyn Felkner, DrPH, MPH, is currently a clinical assistant professor in the undergraduate public health program at The University of Texas at Austin, College of Natural Sciences, School of Human Ecology.  She teaches Global Health in Action, Field Epidemiology, and Public Health Research; and she coordinates the Guatemala Public Health Internship.  She has participated in Texas Global activities centered on affiliations in Guatemala City and Antigua, Guatemala. These activities include co-leading a Maymester Education Abroad, hosting a Global Classroom, and coordinating Global Career Launch internships. 

 

Prior to teaching at UT-Austin, Dr. Felkner served in management positions at the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Emerging and Acute Infectious Disease Branch (EAID). There she directly supervised some thirty staff including managers, epidemiologists, public health and prevention specialists, and administrative staff who were responsible for surveillance and investigation of foodborne, invasive, respiratory, vaccine preventable and health care-associated infections statewide. She served as a Texas point of contact during the 2014-2015 Ebola pandemic and the New England Compounding Center fungal contamination outbreak and as incident commander for Texas in a nationwide Salmonella outbreak.  She oversaw a $3 million state general revenue budget as well as developing, implementing, and monitoring over 30 contracts and cooperative agreements totaling more than $8 million with local health departments, health science centers, professional organizations, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  She provided leadership for IT teams in the development and maintenance of secure electronic interfaces for reporting communicable diseases of public health importance and health care-associated conditions and informed DSHS leadership regarding outbreaks. As a staff epidemiologist, prior to her management positions at DSHS, she co-authored more than twenty articles on results from the Texas Neural Tube Defect Project. She also participated in multiple aspects of infectious disease outbreak investigation and intervention and mentored graduate and advanced undergraduate students working on infectious disease epidemiological studies.

 

Dr. Felkner has extensive experience in Texas-Mexico border health issues having lived in the Texas Rio Grande Valley for sixteen years.  She directed coordinated chronic disease prevention initiatives in the Valley for the UT Health-Houston and UT Health-San Antonio and the Medical Branch in Galveston. She was an assistant professor of clinical microbiology and parasitology for The University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas (Now UT-Rio Grande Valley). 

Education

  • DrPH -The University of Texas-Houston School of Public Health emphasis in disease control; MPH UT-Houston, SPH, emphasis in international and rural health; BS, microbiology from Brigham Young University

Publications

    1. Stone, K. W., Felkner, M., Perez-Patron, M., Schmit, C., McDonald, T. J., Horney, J.A. Changes to timeliness and completeness of communicable disease reporting in Texas following the implementation of an epidemiology capacity program. Under review at American Journal of Public Health (submitted 8/28/19). 

       

    2. Stone, K. W., Felkner, M., Garza, E., Perez-Patron, M., Schmit, C., McDonald, T. J., Horney, J.A. Characterizing epidemiologic surge capacity in a large, decentralized state health department, Texas, 2017. Under review at Public Health (submitted 8/26/19).

    3. Stone, K. W., Felkner, M., Perez-Patron, M., Schmit, C., McDonald, T. J., Horney, J.A. (2019). How does Surge Capacity Positions Increase Epidemiologic Capacity? Results from a Qualitative Study of Texas Local Health Departments. In press at Health Security (Accepted 9/23/19).

       

    4. Suarez L, Felkner M, Brender JD, Canfield M, Zhu H, Hendricks KA. Neural tube defects on the Texas-Mexico border: what we've learned in the 20 years since the Brownsville cluster. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2012;94:882-92.

     

    1. Suarez L, Felkner M, Brender JD, Canfield MA. Dieting to lose weight and occurrence of neural tube defects in offspring of Mexican-American women. Matern Child Health J. 2012;16:844-9.

     

    1. Suarez L, Ramadhani T, Felkner M, Canfield MA, Brender JD, Romitti PA, Sun L. Maternal smoking, passive tobacco smoke, and neural tube defects. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2011;91:29-33.

     

    1. Graham A, Brender JD, Sharkey JR, Zhu L, Felkner M, Suarez L, Canfield MA. Dietary methionine intake and neural tube defects in Mexican-American women. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2010;88:451-7.

     

    1. Brender JD, Felkner M, Suarez L, Canfield MA, Henry JP. Maternal pesticide exposure and neural tube defects in Mexican Americans. Ann Epidemiol. 2010;20:16-22.

     

    1. Felkner M, Andrews K, Field LH, Taylor JP, Baldwin T, Valle-Rivera AM, Presley J, Newsome S, Casey E. Detection of Staphylococcus aureus including MRSA on environmental surfaces in a jail setting. J Correct Health Care. 2009;15:310-7.

     

    1. Felkner M, Suarez L, Canfield M, Brender J, Sun Q. Maternal serum homocysteine levels and risk for neural tube defects in a Texas-Mexico border population. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2009; 85:574- 81.

     

    1. Suarez L, Felkner M, Brender JD, Canfield M, Hendricks K. Maternal exposures to cigarette smoke, alcohol, and street drugs and neural tube defect occurrence in offspring.  Matern Child Health J. 2008;12:394-401.

     

    1. Felkner M, Rohde RE, Valle-Rivera AM, Baldwin T, Newsome L.P. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in Texas county jail inmates. Journal of Correctional Health Care.2007;13:289-295.

     

    1. Felkner M, Suarez L, Liszka B, Brender JD, Canfield M. Neural tube defects, micronutrient deficiencies and Helicobacter pylori: A new hypothesis.  Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2007; 79:617-621.

     

    1. Barr B, Felkner M, Diamond PM. High school athletic departments as sentinel surveillance sites for community-associated methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections.  Tex Med. 102:56-6, 2006.

     

    1. Missmer SA, Suarez L, Felkner M, Wang E., Merrill AH Jr. Rothman KJ, Hendricks KA. Exposure to fumonisins and the occurrence of neural tube defects along the Texas-Mexico border. Environ. Health Perspect.114:237-241, 2006.

     

    1. Brender JD, Suarez L, Felkner M, Gilani Z, Stinchcomb D, Moody K, Hendricks K. Maternal exposures to arsenic cadmium, lead, and mercury and neural tube defects in offspring. Environ Res. 2006;132-139,2006.

     

    1. Felkner MM, Suarez L, Brender J, Scaife B, Hendricks K. Iron status indicators in women with prior neural tube defect-affected pregnancies. Matern Child Health J. 2005; 9:421-428.

     

    1. Suarez L, Gilani Z, Felkner M, Brender J, Henry J, Hendricks K. Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and risk of neural tube defect in a Mexican American population. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11: 233- 237,

     

    1. Felkner M, Pascoe N, Shupe-Ricksecker K, Goodman E. The wound care team: a new source of group a streptococcal nosocomial transmission. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2005;26:462-465,.

     

    1. Felkner M, Suarez L, Hendricks K, Larsen RD. Implementation and outcomes of recommended folic acid supplementation in Mexican American women with prior neural tube defect-affected pregnancies. Prev Med. 2005;40:867-871.

     

    1. Suarez L, Felkner M, Hendricks K. The effect of fever, febrile illnesses, and heat exposures on the risk of neural tube defects in a Texas-Mexico border population. Birth Defects Res (Part A). 2004;70:815-9.

     

    1. Brender JD, Olive JM, Felkner M, Suarez L, Marckwardt W, Hendricks KA. Dietary nitrites and nitrates, nitrosatable drug, and neural tube defects.  Epidemiol; 15:330-336

       

    2. Johnson KMK, Suarez L, Felkner MM, Hendricks K. Prevalence of craniorachischisis in a Texas-Mexico border population. Birth Defects Res. Part A. Clinical and Molecular Teratology. 2004; 70:92-94.

     

    1. Felkner M, Hendricks K, Suarez L, Waller DK. Diarrhea: A new risk factor for neural tube defects? Teratology. 2003; 67:504-508.

     

    1. Felkner M, Suarez L, Hendricks K. Folate status of childbearing women—Texas-Mexico Border counties before and after folic acid fortification of grain products. Texas Med. 2002; 98:58-60.

     

    1. Suarez L, Hendricks K, Felkner M, Gunter E. Maternal serum B12 levels and risk for neural tube defects in a Texas-Mexico border population. Annals Epidemiol 2003; 13:81-88.