Ayse Ercumen

Bio

Dr. Ayse Ercumen is an epidemiologist in NC State’s Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources. Her research focuses on potable and recreational water quality, the spread of diarrhea and soil-transmitted infections in low income regions, health impact assessments for WaSH projects, waterborne infections, and pathogen transmission risk through piped systems. Dr. Ercumen has led a variety of research projects using large-scale health impact assessments, cohort studies, and randomized controlled trials.

Degrees: B.S. in Environmental Engineering from MIT, MS in Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley, and an MPH and PhD in Epidemiology from UC Berkeley.
Interesting Fact: Her research combines tools from multiple disciplines to study environmental transmission of infectious disease and evaluate interventions to improve child health.

Publications

• Effects of household concrete floors on maternal and child health: the CRADLE trial - a randomised controlled trial protocol , BMJ OPEN (2025)
• Pathways through which water, sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition interventions reduce antibiotic use in young children: a mediation analysis of a cohort nested within a cluster-randomized trial , ECLINICALMEDICINE (2025)
• Sensor-measured versus reported latrine use to characterize sanitation intervention uptake in a randomized controlled trial among households in rural Bangladesh , INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYGIENE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH (2024)
• Water, sanitation, handwashing, and nutritional interventions can reduce child antibiotic use: evidence from Bangladesh and Kenya , NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (2025)
• Diagnostic screening of private well water using gas chromatography with high resolution mass spectrometry to support well water management , SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT (2024)
• Do animal husbandry operations contaminate groundwater sources with antimicrobial resistance: systematic review , ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH (2024)
• Geographic pair matching in large-scale cluster randomized trials , NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (2024)
• Improved Child Feces Management Mediates Reductions in Childhood Diarrhea from an On-Site Sanitation Intervention: Causal Mediation Analysis of a Cluster-Randomized Trial in Rural Bangladesh , JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND GLOBAL HEALTH (2024)
• Influence of Temperature and Precipitation on the Effectiveness of Water, Sanitation, and Handwashing Interventions against Childhood Diarrheal Disease in Rural Bangladesh: A Reanalysis of the WASH Benefits Bangladesh Trial , ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES (2024)
• Influence of hydrometeorological risk factors on child diarrhea and enteropathogens in rural Bangladesh , PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (2024)