Influencing Public Health Policy with Data-informed Mathematical Models of Infectious Diseases

David Wood

  •  1 Jul 2019 - 12 Jul 2019
     8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Organisers: Jennifer Flegg (University of Melbourne), James McCaw (University of Melbourne), Joshua Ross (University of Adelaide), Thomas House (University of Manchester), Ben Cooper (Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit)

Program Description: With the ever-growing emphasis on the importance of sound evidence in healthcare decision-making and policy, the power of data-informed mathematical models to provide much needed insight is substantial. In
order for conclusions drawn from a mathematical model to be reliable, it is essential for unknown model parameters to be estimated from data in a statistically sound manner and to fully account for uncertainty in the parameter values. Interest has been growing, both domestically and internationally, in developing new methods for parameter estimation in mathematical models of infectious diseases.

The dynamics of how an infectious disease spreads through a population is often modelled with sets of nonlinear ordinary differential equations or stochastic simulation. These dynamic models contain parameters such as rate constants and initial populations, however, these parameters often cannot be measured directly, or there is inherent uncertainty in the parameter values. As such, these parameter values need to be estimated using statistical techniques such as maximum likelihood estimation and Bayesian inference. In the last decade much research has focused on estimating the unknown parameters of dynamic models under a Bayesian framework.

This workshop addresses the need to use existing statistical methods and to develop new methods for parameter estimation in models of infectious diseases.

Program Structure: 
Below is the draft of Program Structure. Please click to enlarge.
Note: actual times may differ slightly and things may change as the workshop approaches

Registration:

  • Deadline: 1 May 2019
  • Registration is by invitation only

Participant List:
Jennifer Flegg (University of Melbourne)
James McCaw (University of Melbourne)
Joshua Ross (University of Adelaide)
Thomas House (University of Manchester)
Jonathan Keith (Monash University)
Lisa White (Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit)
Nick Golding (University of Melbourne)
Deborah Cromer (University of New South Wales)
Andrew Black (University of Adelaide)
Ada Yan (Imperial College London)
Jason Whyte (University of Melbourne)
Sai Thein Than Tun (Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit)
Carla Ewels (James Cook University)
Michael Lydeamore (The Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales)
Alex Zarebski (University of Oxford)
James Walker (University of Adelaide)
Amani Alahmadi (Monash University)
Sarah Belet (University of Melbourne)
Nurul Anwar (University of Melbourne)
Freya Shearer (University of Melbourne)
Pavithra Jayasundara (University of New South Wales)
Hom Nath Dhungana (University of Technology Sydney)
James Wood (University of New South Wales)
Zari Dzalilov (Federation University)
Rob Moss (University of Melbourne)
 

 


ASSOCIATED EVENTS

MATRIX Wine and Cheese Afternoon 2 July 2019
On the first Tuesday of each program, MATRIX provides a pre-dinner wine and cheese afternoon. Produce is locally-sourced to showcase delicacies from the region.