The recent threat of Ebola, pandemic influenza A/H5N1, the SARS epidemic, the global HIV epidemic, and growing resistance to antimicrobial drugs, along with the bioterrorist events following September 11, 2001, highlighted the need for a general capacity to rapidly detect, characterize, and control both known and unknown agents. As the need to address infectious disease threats grows, the number of disciplines relevant to doing so has exploded. The combination of computational power and Big Data of various forms provides a new opportunity to study infectious diseases and their transmission through a wide variety of novel approaches, necessitating a new level of sophistication in the training of infectious disease epidemiologists. We recognize the need for a corps of academic and government epidemiologists, ideally working in concert to boost capacity both in peacetime and during crises. The time is not far off when the toolbox of the infectious disease epidemiologist will include sophisticated approaches to causal inference, transmission-dynamic modeling (both mathematical and agent-based), model fitting using Monte Carlo and other Bayesian techniques, population genomics and phylogenetics, and other techniques that are currently cutting-edge. The goal of Harvard School of Public Health's Interdisciplinary Program in Infectious Disease Epidemiology (IPIDE) through this submission of our competitive renewal, is to increase the number of graduates who will be capable of drawing on these diverse tools in a knowledgeable way to meet the infectious disease threats of a new generation. Our training faculty includes leading practitioners of all of these techniques and our recent graduates are emerging with deep training, research experience, and publications in many of these areas. In the past funding period, we have supported 4 - 5 pre-doctoral candidates per year in epidemiologic research methods through formal training at the Harvard School of Public Health. The training program includes coursework in epidemiology, drug resistance, and mathematical modeling of disease from the Interdisciplinary Concentration in Infectious Disease Epidemiology (hsph.harvard.edu/idepi) under the close supervision of our 27 faculty mentors, leading either to a DSc or a PhD. Harvard's IPIDE has been running successfully for fifteen years, and this training grant has helped develop not only a new cadre of students with the capacity to monitor, prevent, and suppress diverse emerging infectious diseases while pursuing a variety of biomedical career options in both the public and private sectors, but has also allowed IPIDE to expand its faculty, funding, diversity of research, and, the number of students who join the infectious disease epidemiology program. Over the past ten years, 26 trainees have been supported, 22 graduated, and they published 436 peer-reviewed manuscripts (297 in infectious disease epidemiology). For the current submission, we are proposing to support 4, increasing to 7 pre-doctoral students each year over the next five-year project period.

Public Health Relevance

This training grant supports the training of doctoral students to develop rigorous methods in infectious disease epidemiology, surveillance, monitoring, and modeling so that they will be able to prevent and detect outbreaks of emerging epidemics.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Institutional National Research Service Award (T32)
Project #
2T32AI007535-16A1
Application #
8933077
Study Section
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases B Subcommittee (MID)
Program Officer
Coomes, Stephanie
Project Start
1998-09-30
Project End
2020-06-30
Budget Start
2015-07-01
Budget End
2016-06-30
Support Year
16
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Harvard University
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
149617367
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
Ortblad, Katrina F; Kibuuka Musoke, Daniel; Ngabirano, Thomson et al. (2018) HIV self-test performance among female sex workers in Kampala, Uganda: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open 8:e022652
Oldenburg, Catherine E; Bor, Jacob; Harling, Guy et al. (2018) Impact of early antiretroviral therapy eligibility on HIV acquisition: household-level evidence from rural South Africa. AIDS 32:635-643
Mooring, Eric Q; Mitjà, Oriol; Murray, Megan B (2018) Spatial-temporal clustering analysis of yaws on Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea to enhance planning and implementation of eradication programs. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 12:e0006840
Oldenburg, Catherine E; Ortblad, Katrina F; Chanda, Michael M et al. (2018) Brief Report: Intimate Partner Violence and Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation Among Female Sex Workers Newly Diagnosed With HIV in Zambia: A Prospective Study. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 79:435-439
Ortblad, Katrina F; Oldenburg, Catherine E (2018) Tailoring combination HIV prevention for female sex workers. Lancet HIV 5:e406-e407
Oldenburg, Catherine E; Perez-Brumer, Amaya G; Reisner, Sari L et al. (2018) Human rights protections and HIV prevalence among MSM who sell sex: Cross-country comparisons from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Glob Public Health 13:414-425
Ortblad, Katrina F; Bärnighausen, Till; Chimbindi, Natsayi et al. (2018) Predictors of male circumcision incidence in a traditionally non-circumcising South African population-based cohort. PLoS One 13:e0209172
Ortblad, Katrina F; Musoke, Daniel K; Ngabirano, Thomson et al. (2018) Female Sex Workers Often Incorrectly Interpret HIV Self-Test Results in Uganda. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 79:e42-e45
Ortblad, Katrina F; Harling, Guy; Chimbindi, Natsayi et al. (2018) Does incident circumcision lead to risk compensation? Evidence from a population cohort in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr :
Oldenburg, Catherine E; Chanda, Michael M; Ortblad, Katrina F et al. (2018) Effect of HIV self-testing on the number of sexual partners among female sex workers in Zambia. AIDS 32:645-652

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