Two Riehle PhDs Research Mosquitoes and Related Diseases
The Riehle Lab – University of Arizona –
Research Focus: Developing new strategies for controlling mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit
Dr. Michael A. Riehle PhD
Riehle Laboratory – Medical College of Wisconsin –
Research Focus: Dynamics of the relationship between the mosquito vector and the malaria parasite
Dr. Michelle Riehle, PhD
Riehle is not the most common name in the US so what are the chances of there being two labs advancing the study of mosquitos and related diseases, one led by Dr. Michael Riehle and one by Dr. Michelle Riehle? No, not brother and sister, not even close.
Michael is a descendant of Immigrant Ancestors Felix Riehle (1796-1868) and his son Leonhard (1831-1904) who immigrated from Wagshurst Baden to Indiana in 1847. Leonhard’s son John was among five brothers who subsequently moved to Wisconsin, where Michael was born three generations later. He received his B.S. (1993) and M.S. (1996) in Entomology and Biology at the University of Wisconsin and his PhD from the University of Georgia (2003), also in Entomology.
Michelle is from a different Family Segment, though also one that came out of Baden. Her Riehle lineage traces back to James Riehle (1877-1943), who was born in Nordrach, Baden and moved first to London England and then through the wilds of Northern Saskatchewan, Canada before settling in St Paul, MN early in the 20th Century. Michelle is his great-granddaughter. She received her BA in Biology from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California, Irvine in 2003.
Michael notes, “When Michelle first switched from E coli genomics to mosquitoes it caused a lot of confusion (speaker invites to the wrong person, students contacting the wrong one of us inquiring about position in our labs, etc.). But I think we have it largely worked out after all this time and we now know to contact the other person if something looks amiss!”
Two great Riehle minds working in this important field are even better than one. Thanks to them both for doing this important work for global health.
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