Workshop to Increase Diversity in Mathematical Modeling and Public Health: Agenda

March 4-5, 2024

The Inn at Longwood Medical, 342 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115

Co-Organizers: Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health & MIDAS Network Coordination Center

AGENDA

Speaker bios

Day 1: Monday, March 4th, 2024

8:00-8:45 AM:  Arrival & Breakfast

8:45-9:00 AM: Welcome & Opening Remarks by Yonatan Grad, MD, PhD, Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, and Faculty at the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

9:00-10:00 AM: Keynote (virtual) by Bisola Ojikutu, MD, MPH, Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission

10:00-10:20 AM: Group Introduction/Icebreaker by Abby Campbell Wong & Caroline Thomas, Staff, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

10:20-10:30 AM: Break

10:30-11:30 AM: Lecture 1 Introduction to SIR Modeling by Kirstin Roster, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

11:30 AM-12:30 PM: Breakout session 1- Intro to SIR models in R by Léa Cavalli & Beau Schaeffer, SM, both PhD students in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

12:30-2:00 PM: Lunch & Networking

2:00-3:30 PM: Career panel: moderated by Eva Rumpler, PhD student in Population Health Sciences, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

  • Panelists:
    • Aishani Aatresh, undergraduate student, Harvard College, and undergraduate researcher, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School
    • Caroline Buckee, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology, and Faculty at the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School
    • Angela Fowler, MD, MPH, Associate Medical Director for Vaccine Preventable Diseases in the Office of the Medical Director, Bureau for Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
    • Keya Joshi, PhD, Associate Director of Health Economics Outcomes Research, Moderna (PhD ’23 Harvard Chan and CCDD alum)
    • Sylvia Ofori, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

3:30-4:00 PM: Break

4:00-5:00 PM: Lecture 2- Wastewater Epidemiology: Qinqin Yu, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School & Mary Bushman, PhD, Instructor, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

5:00-6:00 PM: Break

6:00 PM: Networking Dinner- Remarks: Marc Lipsitch, DPhil, Professor of Epidemiology, and Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

 

Day 2: Tuesday, March 5, 2024

8:00-8:30 AM:  Arrival & Breakfast

8:30-9:30 AM: Lecture 3- Science Communication by C. Brandon Ogbunu, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute

9:30-10:30 AM: Lecture 4-Measuring and Modeling Human Mobility for Infectious Disease Control by Caroline Buckee, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology, and Faculty at the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

10:30-11:00 AM: Break

11:00-12:00 PM: Breakout Session 2- Outbreak Scenario: Qinqin Yu, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School & Sylvia Ofori, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

12:00-1:00 PM: Lunch & Networking

1:00-2:00 PM: Lecture 5- Machine Learning & Novel Data Sources by Mauricio Santillana, PhD, MSc, Professor of Physics, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Director of the Machine Intelligence Group for the betterment of Health and the Environment (MIGHTE) at Northeastern University; Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology, Faculty at the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

2:00-3:00 PM: Breakout Session 3- Forecasting by Nicole Kogan, PhD student in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

3:00-3:30 PM: Break

3:30-4:30 PM: Breakout Session 4- Back of the Envelope Calculations in R by  Katherine Jia, PhD student in Population Health Sciences, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School, Emmanuelle Dankwa, DPhil, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School, and Christopher Boyer, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard Chan School

4:30-5:00 PM: Closing Remarks

5:00-6:00 PM: Break

6:00 PM: Networking Dinner

 

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Pre-Workshop Introductory Training Session in R (via Zoom)

To ensure all participants are prepared for workshop activities, we require that you attend one of the Intro Training in R sessions OR confirm your proficiency in R.
The Intro Training is intended for those with little to no R experience, but all are welcome to attend with questions.
  • Sunday, Feb 25th, 7:00-8:00 PM EST (Boston) -or-
  • Tuesday, Feb 27th, 12:00-1:00 PM EST (Boston)

Session led by Jess Kerr, MPH, researcher, Public Health Dynamics Lab, and PhD student in Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, and member MIDAS Coordination Center

Participants, please refer to the email communication you received for more details and to sign up.

For more information about R see: https://www.r-project.org/about.html