Statesboro, Georgia, United States
17 years of research experience in infectious disease epidemiology and transmission dynamics modeling (e.g., COVID-19, influenza, cholera, Ebola, and HIV), digital health communications, real-world evidence, health economics and outcome research. Head of digital health and infectious disease epidemiology lab at Georgia Southern University. A strategic thinker who is adept at forging new collaborations, leveraging bottom-line-up-front communications, managing consortium projects, and deriving analytical insights from real-world data. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed manuscripts in prominent journals including Lancet, PNAS, Emerg Infect Dis, & Ann Epidemiol.
Promoted to full professor, effective August 1, 2025. I am an infectious disease epidemiologist and digital health researcher. My current research interests/projects are: 1. Epidemiology of respiratory infectious diseases, esp. COVID-19, influenza and RSV. 2. Social media and youth mental health. As of August 1, 2025, I am supervising a team of 3 doctoral students.
I am an infectious disease epidemiologist, with professional experience in outbreak emergency responses, mathematical modeling of infectious disease dynamics, and digital health research. My major achievements as an associate professor (2018 - 2025): 1. mentored DrPH and MPH epidemiology students in research a. graduated 3 DrPH students: Drs. Kamalich Muniz-Rodriguez, Sylvia Ofori and Xinyi Hua b. graduated a number of MPH students, each with publication(s). 2. established a research portfolio in the epidemiology of COVID-19 and other respiratory infections a. estimation of epidemic parameters and evaluate the effect of public health interventions through ecological studies using secondary data. b. mathematical model of COVID-19 transmission: e.g., scenario analysis of non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccination strategies. (Ofori's & Hua's dissertations) 3. application of retrospective social media data analysis in public health a. monitoring of unplanned school closure via social media platforms: 4 pilot studies in collaboration with the CDC b. retrospective analysis of Twitter data pertinent to hurricane Matthew in Georgia (Muniz-Rodriguez's dissertation). Selected publications in COVID-19 epidemiology: 1. Modeling infections and deaths averted due to COVID-19 vaccination strategies in Ghana (EID, accepted) 2. Doubling time of the COVID-19 epidemic by province, China (EID, 2020) 3. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission potential, Iran, 2020 (EID, 2020) 4. Transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in Ghana and the impact of public health interventions (AJTMH, 2022) Selected publications in digital health: 1. Winter storms and unplanned school closure announcements on Twitter: Comparison between the states of Massachusetts and Georgia, 2017-18. (DMPHP, 2022) 2. Monitoring different social media platforms to report unplanned school closures due to wildfires in California, October & December 2017. (DMPHP, 2022).
My major achievements as an assistant professor (2013-18) were: 1. helped build our DrPH epidemiology program. 2. established a research portfolio in digital health, esp. with regard to social media data analysis. 3. continued a portfolio of infectious disease epidemiology and modeling research. 4. mentored over a dozen (mainly MPH) students in research. Selected publications in infectious disease epidemiology and modeling: 1. Transmission models of historical Ebola outbreaks (Emerg Infect Dis, 2015) 2. Modeling in real time during the Ebola response (MMWR, 2016) 3. Gender-based differences in water, sanitation and hygiene-related diarrheal disease and helminthic infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis (TRSTMH, 2016) 4. Impact of a prevention bundle on Clostridium difficile infection rates in a hospital in the southeastern United States (AJIC, 2016) 5. Typhoid transmission: a historical perspective on mathematical model development (TRSTMH, 2015) 6. The impact of shared sanitation facilities on diarrheal diseases with and without an environmental reservoir: a modeling study (Pathogens and Global Health, 2018) Selected publications in digital health: 1. Ebola and the social media (The Lancet, 2014) 2. How people react to Zika virus outbreaks in Twitter? A computational content analysis (AJIC, 2016) 3. Social media's initial reaction to information and misinformation on Ebola, August 2014: facts and rumors (Public health reports, 2016) 4. Chinese social media reaction to the MERS-CoV and avian influenza A(H7N9) outbreaks (Infectious diseases of poverty, 2013) 5. How did Ebola information spread on twitter: broadcasting or viral spreading (BMC Public Health, 2019) 6. Sentiment, contents, and retweets: a study of two vaccine-related Twitter datasets (The Permanente journal, 2018) 7. The use of social media in public health surveillance (WPSAR journal, 2015) 8. Ebola virus disease and social media: a systematic review (AJIC, 2016)
I worked as an infectious disease epidemiologist, mathematical modeler and health economist. Selected projects: - Modeling the effect of school closures in a pandemic scenario: Exploring two different contact matrices (Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2015) - Modeling the effect of water, sanitation, and hygiene and oral cholera vaccine implementation in Haiti (American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2013)
I built a mathematical model that studied how to minimize the number of infected hosts during multiple influenza outbreaks in a heterogeneous population. - How to minimize the attack rate during multiple influenza outbreaks in a heterogeneous population (PLOS ONE, 2012)
I built a mathematical model that studied the role of superinfection and non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy on HIV disease progression and viral blips. Selected publications: - The clinical interpretation of viral blips in HIV patients receiving antiviral treatment: Are we ready to infer poor adherence? (JAIDS, 2012) - Superinfection with a heterologous HIV strain per se does not lead to faster progression (Mathematical Biosciences, 2010)