The ultimate goals of my research program are to:
- Inform national and international decisions about optimal strategies to control and prevent infectious diseases, in 2 focussed areas:
- Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
- Respiratory Infectious Diseases & Pandemic Response
- Provide better modeling methods for policy decisions
Objectives. To reach these goals, my team and I develop state-of-the-art transmission-dynamic models, analyze large population-level databases and use health economics to:
- Assess the effectiveness & cost-effectiveness of infectious disease prevention and control strategies
- Address key methodological challenges
Objective 1: Assess the effectiveness & cost-effectiveness of infectious disease prevention/control strategies
My research program provides national and international expertise in mathematical modeling of infectious disease prevention and control strategies. Over the next years, my program will include, but will not be limited to, 2 main research projects identified with our partners as priorities.
1) HPV vaccination: Identifying optimal HPV vaccination strategies to accelerate global elimination of cervical cancer, and reduce health inequalities
Aim. To identify optimal HPV vaccination strategies that can accelerate global cervical cancer elimination and reduce health inequalities, considering the opportunities provided by 1-dose vaccination and new less expensive vaccines using our HPV-ADVISE models.
Partners. INSPQ, PHAC, US CDC, Digital Research Alliance of Canada, WHO, PATH, Doctors of the World, and Vaccine Advisory Groups & Institutes from Colombia, Benin, Ivory Coast, Thailand, Laos, Singapore
2) Respiratory infectious diseases & pandemic preparedness: Modeling co-circulation dynamics of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Canada
Aim. To model the co-circulation dynamics of COVID-19, influenza and RSV in Canada, and optimal prevention/control strategies against respiratory infectious diseases.
Partners. INSPQ, PHAC, Digital Research Alliance of Canada, WHO, Burkina Faso & Cameroon Ministries of Health
Objective 2: Address key methodological challenges in infectious disease modeling and economic evaluation
Aim. to address key issues in infectious disease modeling to help inform best practice and improve model validity. For example, over the next years, our team will:
- Examine different methods of including historical/projected changes in demography and sexual behavior in transmission-dynamic models of HPV, and their impact on projections of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of vaccination, using HPV-ADVISE.
- Examine different methods of including different types of contacts in social mixing matrices over time, and their impact on transmission-dynamic model projections, using our unique social contact study in Canada (CONNECT).
Partners. INSPQ, PHAC, US CDC, Digital Research Alliance of Canada, WHO, PATH, Doctors of the World, Vaccine Advisory Groups & Institutes from Colombia, Benin, Ivory Coast, Thailand, Laos, and Singapore, and Ministries of Health of Burkina Faso & Cameroon