LSHTM Call for Applications: Introduction to Infectious Disease Modelling and its Applications

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is calling for applications to the course titled ‘Introduction to Infectious Disease Modelling and its Applications’.

Infectious diseases remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with HIV, tuberculosis and malaria estimated to cause 10% of all deaths each year. New pathogens continue to emerge, as demonstrated by the SARS epidemic in 2003, the swine flu pandemic in 2009, MERS CoV in 2013, Zika in 2016 and, recently SARS-CoV-2.

Mathematical models are being increasingly used to understand the transmission of infections and to evaluate the potential impact of control programmes in reducing morbidity and mortality. Applications include determining optimal control strategies against new or emergent infections, such as SARS-Cov-2, swine flu, Zika or Ebola, or against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and predicting the impact of vaccination strategies against common infections such as measles and rubella. Modelling was used extensively in the UK during the recent swine flu pandemic to monitor the extent of ongoing transmission and the potential impact of control such as school closures and vaccination.  It is currently being used in many countries to predict the impact of interventions against COVID-19.

Date: June 19 – 30, 2023

Location: Hybrid: London, UK or online

Who should apply?

• The course is designed for individuals interested in expanding their knowledge of the techniques available for analysing and interpreting epidemiological data on infectious diseases and for predicting the impact of control programmes, including medical and health professionals, policy makers, veterinary scientists, medical statisticians and infectious disease researchers. Specialist mathematical training is not a prerequisite. However, individuals with degrees in mathematical disciplines working on some aspect of infectious disease dynamics and/ or control, who wish to learn about the potential of infectious disease modelling will also benefit.
• Some familiarity with spreadsheet packages (ideally Excel) is desirable. 
• Applicants should have a good command of English. Participants are expected to bring their own laptop

Course Outline

The course makes use of Excel, and a specialist modelling package (Berkeley Madonna). The topics to be covered include:

• Key concepts in infectious disease epidemiology;
• The basic methods for setting up (deterministic and stochastic) infectious disease models;
• Practical applications of modelling, including predicting the impact of control strategies against infections, and describing the course of outbreaks;
• Analyses of serological data: methods for estimating age and time-dependent transmission rates and their application for developing models of the dynamics of infections;
• Modelling in real-time;
• How to read and interpret modelling papers;
• Models for describing STI transmission and control;
• Models of the dynamics and control of tuberculosis;
• Fitting models to data, network models, sensitivity analyses and introductory health economics.
• Guest lectures from researchers working on mathematical modelling.

Fees:

• £2,880 full fee
• £1,440 for LMICs

Read more here.