About Me
I am a PhD Candidate in Biology at Pennsylvania State University, where I build mathematical models of infectious diseases as part of Dr. Matt Ferrari’s lab (within the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics), in addition to other infectious disease epidemiology work. I previously worked as a clinical research coordinator in the Infectious Disease Division at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada), and concurrently completed an MSc in Global Health Policy at LSHTM. Whilst completing my Masters in computational chemistry, I realized that I enjoyed research and computational modeling, but wanted to work in a more applied healthcare-related field. Since then, I have applied and developed my skills in Public Health research.
My research interests are in infectious disease epidemiology, with a particular focus on the use of mathematical models to improve outbreak response and resource utilization: namely, how the choices we make in categorizing continuous quantitative data affects our understanding and ability to anticipate, detect, and respond to outbreaks. I primarily work with R and Julia, but have experience with Python, Bash, and am learning Rust for fun
When I’m not working, I can be found outside doing one of the following (depending on the season): mountain biking, road cycling, rock climbing, hiking, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, or very occasionally, running.
Education
PhD Biology, 2020 - Present, Pennsylvania State University
MSc Global Health Policy, 2017 - 2020, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
MChem Chemistry, 2011 - 2015, University of Oxford
Research Experience
PhD Candidate, Aug 2020 – Present, Pennsylvania State University
Infectious disease epidemiology and modelling with Dr. Matt Ferrari.
- The Data4Action Research Project examining the dynamics of COVID-19 in a university community
- Resource utilisation strategies for measles surveillance and detection in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- The effects of population-level thresholds for the detection and response to outbreaks
- How critical slowing down metrics perform in light of non-target diseases (background noise)
Clinical Research Coordinator, Apr 2018 – Dec 2019, The Hospital for Sick Children
Coordinated a multi-centre observational study into waning immunity in infants to measles, mumps and varicella, and managed all data produced by the National Microbiology Laboratory and the Nova Scotia Health Authority laboratory.
Responsibilities included:
- Data Management
- Data Analysis
- Grant Applications
- Patient enrollment and consent
Honorary Clinical Researcher, Jun 2016 - May 2019, BOTNAR, University of Oxford
Responsibilities included:
- Data Analysis
- 4-D CT Analysis
- MRI Segmentation
- Contributing researcher in multicentre FAIM study