Kaitlyn Casimo, PhD, MEd

Pronunciation: Kate-lynn cah-SEE-mo (rhymes with casino)

Pronouns: she/her

Kaitlyn Casimo created and leads the Education & Engagement Program at the Allen Institute. The program uses the Allen Institute’s open science resources and cutting-edge resource to engage with educational, scientific, and public communities. As part of this work, she is the PI on an NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education award (#2236366) and an NIH/NINDS U24 dissemination award (U24NS133077). In addition to her own work in science education and communication, she also trains and coaches scientists in effective science communication informed by theater approaches. She received her BA in neuroscience with minors in psychology and theater from Pomona College; PhD in neuroscience from the University of Washington, where she also received certificates in neural computation and engineering, and in science, technology, and society studies; and MEd in instructional design from Western Governors University. Outside of her work, she plays tennis and lives for all things theater.

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Eric J. Chow, MD, MS, MPH, FIDSA, FACP, FAAP is the Chief of Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Immunization for Public Health – Seattle & King County and is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Washington.

He is a board-certified physician in internal medicine, pediatrics and infectious diseases and also trained as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in the Influenza Division at CDC. As an EIS officer, he supported the investigation of the first known COVID-19 outbreak in the US and helped characterize the initial cases and develop the case definition of the multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). On July 2026, he was appointed to the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases (COID) for a 6-year term. He has authored over 70 publications in peer reviewed journals and in the MMWR.

His academic interests include community respiratory virus epidemiology, extra-pulmonary manifestations of respiratory viruses, vaccine preventable disease, emerging infectious diseases and applied epidemiology. Dr. Chow received Bachelor degrees in International Relations and Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 2007, a Masters in Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 2008, a Masters in Public Health from Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2010 and a MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2013.

Combining a commitment to the Allen Institute’s overall mission with an interest in human and translational immunology, Adam joined the Allen Institute for Immunology in mid-2018. He helped to build the early collaborative relationships with external partners as well as research and assay plans, particularly the flow cytometry assays used across all of the Institute’s studies. Currently, he focuses on hypotheses and experimentation in the realms of health and autoimmunity, and continues to contribute to scientific goals across the various teams at the Allen Institute for Immunology.

Adam’s post-doctoral work, with Dr. Rich Locksley at UCSF, focused on immune development and immune-tissue cross-talk at the intestinal epithelial barrier. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago for work on the transcriptional regulation of innate-like T cells with Dr. Albert Bendelac, an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is guided by the principle that the immune system is an integral partner of healthy tissue as well as a potent mediator of immunity and pathology, and he’s excited to contribute to the Allen Institute’s efforts to positively impact human health and disease.