Faculty Profile

Abram Wagner

Abram L. Wagner, PhD, MPH

  • Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
  • Assistant Professor of Global Public Health

Dr. Wagner investigates vaccination programs. His research encompasses analyses of the impact of vaccine hesitancy, vaccine effectiveness studies, and seroepidemiology surveys. A large focus of his work is on developing messaging to introduce a population to new vaccines while minimizing the development of vaccine hesitancy. Since 2020, he has been researching how experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and the US impact adults' vaccination decisions. He is interested in studying COVID-19, influenza, measles, and HPV vaccines, and has an interest in future vaccines for other STIs. Outside of his work in the United States, Dr. Wagner works closely with collaborators in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Nicaragua. Dr. Wagner is also involved in the training of foreign scholars at the University of Michigan and in students placed abroad in foreign internships.

  • Fulbright, Fudan University, 2017
  • PhD, University of Michigan, 2015
  • MPH, University of Michigan, 2012
  • BS, Georgetown University, 2010

Research Interests:
Vaccine hesitancy; epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases; vaccine effectiveness; medical decision-making; global health

Research Projects:
Through a series of internet-based surveys conducted in the US and several Asian countries, Dr. Wagner studies how experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic - including first- and second-hand exposure to disease, affect vaccination decision-making.

In various cohort studies, Dr. Wagner is documenting how attitudes towards vaccination change over time and how vaccine hesitancy relates to vaccination behaviors.

In discrete choice experiments (DCE) or other conjoint analyses, Dr. Wagner assesses what preferences individuals have for vaccines and vaccination programs. Other related projects more broadly look at patient preferences for other interventions.

In collaboration with Dr. Aubree Gordon, Dr. Wagner studies influenza and COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness using pediatric cohorts in Nicaragua.

Dr. Wagner is developing programs to promote vaccines through lay vaccinators in Aceh, Indonesia.

Floyd CJ, Joachim GE, Boulton ML, Zelner J, Wagner AL. COVID-19 vaccination and mask wearing behaviors in the United States, August 2020 - June 2021. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2022;in press. https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2022.2104251 

Wagner AL, Sanchez N, Kubale J, Kuan G, Gresh L, Lopez R, Ojeda S, Azziz-Baumgartner E, Balmaseda A, Gordon A. Single dose vaccination among infants and toddlers provides modest protection against influenza illness which wanes after 5 months. J Infect Dis. 2022;in press:jiac288. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiac288 

Wagner AL. Commentary: Population attributable fraction of non-vaccination of child and adolescent vaccines attributed to parental vaccine hesitancy, 2018-2019. Am J Epidemiol. 2022;in press. https://doi.org/10.1093/AJE/KWAC094 

Wagner AL, Porth JM, Wu Z, Boulton ML, Finlay JM, Kobayashi LC. Vaccine Hesitancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Latent Class Analysis of Middle-Aged and Older US Adults. J Community Health. 2022;47: 408-415. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10900-022-01064-W 

Wagner AL, Wileden L, Shanks TR, Goold SD, Morenoff JD, Sheinfeld Gorin SN. Mediators of Racial Differences in COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Uptake: A Cohort Study in Detroit, MI. Vaccines (Basel). 2022;10: 36. https://doi.org/10.3390/VACCINES10010036 

Huang Z, Ji M, Ren J, Sun X, Boulton ML, Zikmund-Fisher BJ, Wagner AL. Effect of the framing of HPV vaccination on parents' willingness to accept an HPV vaccine. Vaccine. 2022;40(6): 897-903. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.VACCINE.2021.12.051 

View a full list of publications on PubMed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/abram.wagner.1/bibliography/public/ or Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RNembkwAAAAJandhl=en 

E-mail: awag@umich.edu

Twitter: @abramwagner

Phone: (734) 763-2330

Fax: (734) 936-2084

Address: M5234 SPH II
1415 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

For media inquiries: sph.media@umich.edu