TNFood.SafetyCoE@tn.gov
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TNFood.SafetyCoE@tn.gov
Click each photo to learn more about who we are.
John R. Dunn
DVM, PhD, EMBA
CoE Co-Director
Katie Garman
MPH, CHES
CoE PI
Siobhan Dodds
MPH
CoE Program Manager
Emily Kack
MPH
CoE Epidemiologist
Sharon R. Thompson
DVM, MPH
CoE Co-Director
Thomas Denes
PhD
CoE Co-Director
Daleniece Higgins Jones PhD, MPH
CoE Co-Director
If you have any questions regarding our partnerships, resources, tools and trainings, or you would like to learn more about how to collaborate with us, please send us an email at TNFood.SafetyCoE@tn.gov.
CoE Co-Director
State Epidemiologist
State Public Health Veterinarian
Director of Foodborne, Vectorborne, and Zoonotic Diseases
Tennessee Department of Health
Dr. John Dunn, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, attended Louisiana State University where he obtained a BS in Zoology in 1991. After completing his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, he spent three years in mixed animal veterinary practice. Dr. Dunn completed a PhD in veterinary medical sciences (Epidemiology and Community Health) at Louisiana State University in 2003. Dr. Dunn conducted collaborative research with USDA-ARS focused on the pre-harvest epidemiology of Shiga-toxigenic E. coli in ruminants. Dr. Dunn received a commission in the U.S. Public Health Service and joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July 2003 where he worked in the Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer. After four years with CDC, Dr. Dunn joined the Tennessee Department of Health as Director of Foodborne, Vectorborne, and Zoonotic Diseases. He currently serves as the State Epidemiologist and State Public Health Veterinarian directing the Communicable and Environmental Diseases and Emergency Preparedness division. Dr. Dunn is past president of the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians and has chaired multiple compendium committees. During 2022, Dr. Dunn completed his Executive Master of Business Administration-Strategic Leadership at the University of Tennessee Haslam School of Business. Dr. Dunn has over 100 publications focused on infectious disease epidemiology and is a peer reviewer for numerous journals. His interests include infectious disease epidemiology, zoonoses, and the environmental, social, and governance impacts on pre-harvest food safety and the global supply chain.
CoE PI
Foodborne and Enteric Diseases Program Director
Tennessee Department of Health
Katie Garman is a public health professional with 20+ years of experience in the field. She holds an MPH degree with a concentration in Behavioral Sciences from Emory University and a BS degree in Applied Psychology from Ithaca College. In 2002, she started with the Tennessee Department of Health as a Health Educator and moved into her current role as the Foodborne and Enteric Diseases Director in 2014.
Siobhan Dodds is a public health professional with seven years of experience in community health and epidemiology. She specializes in program management and evaluation, stakeholder engagement, needs assessment, and training development. She currently manages the Tennessee Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence as part of the Foodborne and Enteric Disease program in the Communicable and Environmental Health and Emergency Preparedness Division of the Tennessee Department of Health. She earned her MPH at the University of Illinois – Chicago and started her career in food safety at the Chicago Department of Public Health Disease Control Bureau. She assisted the department stand up their first student team of investigators and led a multi-disciplinary workgroup to develop a protocol for communicable disease investigation. She is passionate about building capacity in foodborne and enteric disease programs and developing an empowered public health workforce.
Emily Kack is a public health professional who began her role as an epidemiologist at the TN Department of Health following her graduation from Vanderbilt’s MPH program in 2022. She currently works as the training coordinator and communications lead for the Tennessee Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence which assists southeast state and local health departments build capacity to prevent and respond to foodborne illness outbreaks.
CoE Co-Director
Director and Professor
University of Tennessee
Center for Agriculture and Food Security and Preparedness
Dr. Thompson has been a Co-Director for the Tennessee Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence since its onset. She is responsible for multiple public health-related grant programs supported by different US Federal agencies including programs with the CDC, FDA, USDA, and the State Department. Her career has focused on food safety and public health issues, and she has worked on these issues internationally with multiple countries. Dr. Thompson founded the Center for Agriculture and Food Security and Preparedness which has conducted training and research related food safety, food defense, and public health since 2005. Prior to joining the University of Tennessee, Dr. Thompson was the Associate Director for Veterinary Medical and International Affairs with the Center for Veterinary Medicine at FDA where she managed international programs, including work on several Codex Committees.
CoE Co-Director
Assistant Professor
University of Tennessee
Department of Food Science
The University of Tennessee’s Department of Food Science, founded in 1972, is the only food science program in State of Tennessee. Research in the Denes lab focuses on bacteriophage-based applications for food safety and whole genome sequencing for improved surveillance and outbreak detection of food-borne pathogens. Denes employs genomic approaches, such as whole genome sequencing and RNA sequencing, as well as traditional microbiology and genetics methodologies.
CoE Co-Director
Assistant Professor
University of Tennessee
Department of Public Health
Daleniece Higgins Jones, MPH, PhD is a molecular epidemiologist whose research focus is on molecular microbial food safety epidemiology. Dr. Jones has several years of research experience in bacterial genomics and molecular diagnostics of pathogens. She has expert experience in sampling and laboratory analysis of a variety of environmental and clinical samples. Her laboratory is equipped with instruments capable of analysis from culturing methodology to molecular analysis such as QPCR. She has substantial interests in environmental epidemiology and disparity issues. She has completed various research projects that characterize the socioeconomic disparities in environmental samples.