As part of the Fields Institute’s on-going effort to build research and training capacity in Mathematics for Public Health (MfPH), this Thematic Program will focus on developing mathematical modelling and analytics to address health and socioeconomic effects of emerging infectious diseases in a holistic fashion. Thematic Program partners will be invited to present their problem statements, invited Faculty Mentors and recruited trainees (postdoctoral fellows and graduate students) will be organized into three MfPH Study Groups, to develop relevant mathematical models and analyses to address problems presented by the Thematic Program Partners. These Study Groups will be run in parallel, with a shared set of intensive course modules and invited lectures. Each Study Group will organize a series of activities including:
- Problem Consultation Workshop;
- Team Work Strategy and Implementation Brainstorming;
- Study Group Working Weeks;
- Inter-Project Consultation with Stakeholders;
- Project-end Knowledge Translation.
Overview of Schedule
May 10: Opening Session, 10:30-11:30am
June 11: Study Group Progress Presentations, 10:30am-12:00pm
June 30: Closing Session, 10:30am-12:00pm
Study groups will be free of formal meetings and lectures, and will arrange their group work schedules independently beginning May 26 through to June 30.
The thematic program will be organized in support of team research of three study groups, focusing on:
- Integrative models to quantify burden of COVID-19 on society (Integrative Models);
- Evaluating roles of vaccination on economic recovery and growth (Vaccination);
- Mathematics behind wastewater testing as an early warning tool (Wastewater).
These MfPH Study Groups will be running in parallel, with a set of intensive course modules and some MfPH Invited Lectures to be shared by all three Study Groups.
Each MfPH Study Group will start with a half day Problem Consultation Workshop where thematic partners will present their problem statements. This will be followed by another half day Team Work Strategy and Implementation Brainstorming where trainees and faculty mentors will meet to work out a team work strategy. Each Study Group will then organize its team work in the subsequent Study Group Working Weeks. Every Study Group will organize weekly meetings with the Partners for Inter-Project Consultation with Stakeholders, and a final Project-end Knowledge Translation workshop.
Lectures (May 11-25, June 1-2, 10:30-11:30am)
Lectures will be delivered collaboratively by several research groups. These will be offered in the first weeks (May 11-25, June 1-2) of the Thematic program, and cover module basic materials expected to be useful for the research projects. There will be three courses:
Expected Outcomes
As a result of this two-month thematic program, we hope to produce a volume on Integrative Modelling of Emerging Infectious Diseases which will include notes from the courses as well as papers from the study groups.
Faculty Mentors
Faculty Mentors are invited to the Thematic Program to mentor the MfPH Study Group trainees. They will organize the half day Problem Consultation Workshop, interact with the trainees through their participation in the Team Work Strategy and Implementation Brainstorming, and in the discussions with trainees during Study Group Working Weeks. They will organize the weekly Inter-Project Consultation with Stakeholders and the Project-end Knowledge Translation workshop. To join this program as a Faculty Mentor, please contact Prof. Jianhong Wu:
Confirmed Faculty Mentors:
Julien Arino, University of Manitoba
Ali Asgary, ADERSIM, York University
Henri Berestycki, EHESS, Paris
Lydia Bourouiba, MIT
Michael Chen, York University
Alan Diener, Health Canada
Tom Hurd, McMaster University
Ava John-Baptiste, Western University
Xiaoyan Li, University of Saskatchewan
Rongsong Liu, University of Wyoming
Douglas Manuel, University of Ottawa
Seyed Moghadas, AMB Lab, York University
Kumar Murty, Fields Institute; University of Toronto
Nathaniel Osgood, University of Saskatchewan
Luis Seco, RiskLab, University of Toronto
James Watmough, University of New Brunswick
Jianhong Wu, MfPH Lab-Fields Institute; LIAM Lab-York University
Thematic Program Partners
Thematic Program Partners will be engaged and asked to present their problem statements to the respective MfPH Study Group at the beginning of the Thematic Program. They will interact with trainees and faculty mentors to develop a bi-directional (from problem statement to mathematical formulation, and from mathematical analyses to problem solutions) translation through the Inter-Project Consultation with Stakeholders. They will also participate in the Knowledge Translation Workshop, and in the completion of the MfPH Study Group research manuscript.
