The Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health invites creative and motivated researchers to apply for a mathematical modeling curriculum and research post-doctoral fellowship position to work with our faculty on projects on pandemic preparedness and response funded by a CDC contract to improve infectious diseases forecasting and analytics (see https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p-1026-mill-funding.html). These projects include ones focusing on quantitative tools to inform the public health response over the lifecycle of pandemics; assessment of model and forecast communications; mathematical models that relate within-host evolution and dynamics to population-level epidemiology, evolution, and emergence; assessment of drivers of inequity in surveillance, modeling, and disease burden with a focus on identifying gaps and how to address them; assessing the impact of intervention strategies; and workforce development for mathematical modeling.

The Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics (CCDD) has been a key center for research and policy analysis on SARS-CoV-2 and has been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response. CCDD’s team, comprised of faculty, researchers, postdocs, and graduate students, uses innovative modeling techniques, interdisciplinary methods, and data analysis to respond to the pandemic. To learn more about the CCDD and the affiliated labs, please see https://ccdd.hsph.harvard.edu/.

The Mathematical Modeling Curriculum and Research Fellow will support the development and implementation of an Africa-based mathematical modeling course. The individual will co-design the program, teach core components of the training course, and mentor the training teams as they develop their own mathematical models to address outstanding questions related to pandemic preparedness and response. Additional responsibilities include creating and facilitating an online, biweekly journal club for public health professionals examining topical modeling papers. The successful candidates will work closely with Drs. Caroline Buckee and Bethany Hedt-Gauthier. In addition, the individual will have the opportunity for professional development through interacting with the other project-affiliated scientists (including Drs. Yonatan Grad, Bill Hanage, Nick Menzies, Megan Murray, Mauricio Santillana).