Fundamental epidemiology
Reliably modeling the dynamics of vaccine preventable diseases involves understanding the fundamental epidemiology and having the right data sources. In addition to demographics like age, location, race, and ethnicity, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of human behavior and contact patterns. Our projects focus on innovative approaches for modeling vaccine preventable diseases using novel data streams, such as social mixing data and phylogenetics, coupled with modern techniques.
Keywords:
Computational epidemiology, disease dynamics, mathematical modeling, phylogenetic analysis, social mixing, statistical modeling
Core faculty:
Samuel Jenness, Katia Koelle, Max Lau , Ben Lopman, Kristin Nelson, Ymir Vigfusson
Example Projects
The purpose of this project is to study social mixing patterns in resource limited countries to better parameterize infectious disease models, and thus evaluate infectious disease interventions.
Funder:
NIH/NICHD
Affiliated Faculty:
Ben Lopman PhD, Kristin Nelson PhD, Samuel Jenness PhD
Collaborators:
Yale University; ISI Global; Christin Medical College (India); Universidad de Valle (Guatemala); CISM (Mozambique); Aga Khan University (Pakistan)
Selected Publications:
- Liu CY, Berlin J, Kiti MC, Del Fava E, Grow A, Zagheni E, Melegaro A, Jenness SM, Omer SB, Lopman B, Nelson K. Rapid Review of Social Contact Patterns During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Epidemiology. 2021 Nov 1;32(6):781-791.
The purpose of this project is to study social mixing patterns in corporate settings to better parameterize infectious disease models and thus evaluate infectious disease interventions using seasonal influenza as a proxy for a pandemic.
Funder:
CDC (Centers for Disease Control)
Affiliated Faculty:
Ben Lopman PhD, Kristin Nelson PhD, Samuel Jenness PhD
Collaborators:
Yale University
Selected Publications:
- Kiti MC, Aguolu OG, Liu CY, Mesa AR, Regina R, Woody M, Willebrand K, Couzens C, Bartelsmeyer T, Nelson KN, Jenness S, Riley S, Melegaro A, Ahmed F, Malik F, Lopman BA, Omer SB. Social contact patterns among employees in 3 U.S. companies during early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, April to June 2020. Epidemics. 2021 Sep;36:100481.
This project aims to understand the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 using advanced modeling techniques.
Funder:
Emory COVID-19 Response Collaborative
Affiliated Faculty:
Max Lau PhD, Ben Lopman PhD, Kristin Nelson PhD
Collaborators:
Georgia Department of Public Health
Selected Publications:
- Lau MSY, Grenfell B, Thomas M, Bryan M, Nelson K, Lopman B. Characterizing superspreading events and age-specific infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Georgia, USA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Sep 8;117(36):22430-22435.
- Baker JM, Nelson KN, Overton E, Lopman BA, Lash TL, Photakis M, Jacob JT, Roback JD, Fridkin SK, Steinberg JP. Quantification of Occupational and Community Risk Factors for SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity Among Health Care Workers in a Large U.S. Health Care System. Ann Intern Med. 2021 May;174(5):649-654.