Home

I’m an infectious disease ecologist working as research scientist at the Brotman Baty Institute (BBI), University of Washington. My research focuses on the ecological, evolutionary, and behavioral drivers of respiratory virus infections, with aims to improve infectious disease surveillance and better understand and predict recurring and emerging outbreaks. I apply statistical and computational approaches to study respiratory virus transmission patterns and epidemiology, with a particular focus on influenza and SARS-CoV-2. I also produce operational forecasts and projections of respiratory virus outbreaks.

At BBI/UW, I work with Seattle Flu Alliance investigators to study how population behavior impacts the transmission dynamics of endemic respiratory viruses and SARS-CoV-2 in Seattle, Washington. Prior to joining UW, I completed my PhD in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior with Dr. Lauren Ancel Meyers at the University of Texas at Austin and a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Cécile Viboud at the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health.

During my postgraduate training, I have related cellphone mobility to respiratory virus transmission at the city scale, linked the evolutionary and epidemiological dynamics of influenza in the United States, measured the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare seeking behavior in South Africa, and characterized the spread of influenza in a network of exhibition swine shows in the U.S. Midwest. For my PhD at UT-Austin, I studied how social network structure shapes the gut microbiomes of wild lemurs in Madagascar.