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Megan Culler Freeman, MD, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
  • Director, PGH Assembloid

Megan Culler Freeman, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Freeman received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kentucky and her Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees through the Vanderbilt University Medical Scientist Training Program. She completed Pediatrics Residency and Infectious Diseases Fellowship through the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Pediatrician Scientist Development Program (PedSDP) where she received awards for clinical teaching during both residency and fellowship. Freeman is a virologist interested in human tissue models, viral neuropathogenesis, and acute viral infections in children. Her lab is focused on investigations of RNA viruses with neurotropism, with current focus on enterovirus D68, a cause of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a polio-like illness in children. She has published research articles on the basic science and cell biology of coronaviruses and enteroviruses, as well as projects in collaboration with the UPMC clinical labs, textbook chapters, and reviews. She recently received the Children's Trust Young Investigator Award, the Young Physician Scientist Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and was inducted into the Society for Pediatric Research.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • American Society for Virology, 2010-Present
  • Infectious Disease Society of America, 2015-Present
  • American Medical Association, 2016-Present
  • Society for Pediatric Research, Junior Member, 2019-Present
  • Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Member, 2018-Present

Education & Training

  • BS, Agricultural Biotechnology, University of Kentucky, 2008
  • PhD, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, 2014
  • MD, Vanderbilt University, 2016
  • Residency in Pediatrics, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2016-2018
  • Fellowship in Pediatrics Infectious Disease, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2018-2022

Selected Publications

Aguglia GA, Coyne CB, Dermody TS, Williams JV, and Freeman MC. “Contemporary Enterovirus-D68 Isolates Infect Human Spinal Cord Organoids.” mBio. 2023 Aug 3;e0105823. http://doi: 10.1128/mbio.01058-23.

Bakhache W, Shen A, Symonds-Orr W, Freeman MC, and Dolan PT. “Novel Reporter Constructs to Accelerate Antiviral and Therapeutic Discovery for Enterovirus-A71.” Antiviral Research. 2025. Mar;235:106094. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2025.106094. Epub 2025 Feb 1. PMID: 39900143.

Freeman MC and Messacar K. “Enterovirus and Parechovirus Neurologic Infections in Children: Clinical Presentations and Neuropathogenesis.” Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. 2025 Jan 8:piae069. https://doi:10.1093/jpids/piae069

Freeman MC, Sinder A, Conway G, Chamseddine S, Nassar MF, Wheeler BJ, Anderson A, and Wheeler SE. “Pediatric Vaccine-Induced Antibody Thresholds: Rethinking Pre-Immunosuppression Serologic Testing and Revaccination Implications.” Clinical Chemistry. 2025 Mar 19:hvaf020. doi: 10.1093/clinchem/hvaf020. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40105237.

Woods Acevedo MA, Lan J, Maya S, Jones JE, Bosco IE, Williams JV, Freeman MC*, Dermody TS*. Immune cells promote paralytic disease in mice infected with enterovirus D68. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2025 Jun 3:e188495. PMID: 40459936 *denotes equal contribution

Dabilla N^, Maya S^, McNinch C, Eddens T, Dolan PT*, Freeman MC*. Strain-Specific Tropism and Transcriptional Responses of Enterovirus D68 Infection in Human Spinal Cord Organoids. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2025. Available online. ^,*denotes equal contribution

Yovel G, Packard JE, Wang JC, Maya S, Chi E, Walters S, Freeman MC. Neonatal CNS Human Parechovirus Infections in Western Pennsylvania in the 2024 Season. Journal of Medical Virology. 2026. Mar;98(3):e70870. doi: 10.1002/jmv.70870. PMID: 41810583; PMCID: PMC12977135.

Moline HL, Tannis A, Goldstein L, Englund JA, Staat MA, Bloom JA, Selvarangan R, Michaels MG, Weinberg GA, Halasa HB, Toepfer AP, Rutkowski RE, Salthouse A, Sahni LC, Schuster JE, Stewart LS, Williams JV, Payne DC, Klein EJ, Szilagyi PG, Dawood FS, for the New Vaccine Surveillance Network Collaborators. Effectiveness and Impact of Maternal RSV Immunization and Nirsevimab on Medically Attended RSV in US Children. JAMA Pediatrics. 

Jones JE, Maya S, Yovel G, Ciomperlik-Patton J, Anstadt J, Freeman MC. Enterovirus D68 B3 clade strains are efficiently recovered from cDNA infectious clones in 293T cells and infect human spinal cord organoids. J Virol. 2026 May 19;100(5):e0045026. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00450-26. Epub 2026 Apr 27. PMID: 42037414; PMCID: PMC13185614.

Packard JE, Jones JE, Yovel G, Freeman MC. Enterovirus D68 VP1 and VP3 determine neurotropism in human spinal cord organoids. Viruses https://doi.org/10.3390/v18060619. 

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MyNCBI

Academic and Research Interests

  • RNA Viruses
  • enteroviruses
  • EVD68
  • AFM
  • Acute Flaccid Myelitis
  • Virology
  • pediatric encephalitis
  • neonatal viral infections

Research Grants

Children's Trust Young Award, 2023

K08AI171177, Investigation of enterovirus D68 pathogenesis in the human spinal cord, 2022-27

1R21AI193384-01, EV-D68 genetic neuropathogenesis determinants, 2025-27

1R21AI199539-01, EV-D68 and immune modulation in spinal cord organoids, 2026-28