People of the Galvani Group
Postdoctoral Researchers
Jan Medlock
Dr. Medlock received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington in 2004. His thesis was on models for the spatial spread of infectious diseases. In addition to spatial models, he is interested in sexually transmitted infections, transgenetic strategies for vector-transmitted diseases, and other epidemiological and ecological problems. Jan was a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellow at the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS from 2005–2007 and is currently a postdoctoral associate.
Eunha Shim
Eunha Shim received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Arizona State University in March 2007. Her thesis is on modeling of rotavirus transmission in the presence of immunization and maternal antibodies. She has worked on epidemiological modeling with vaccination and she is now interested in cost-effectiveness analysis of immunization program.
Graduate Students
Sanjay Basu
Sanjay is interested in evaluating clinical interventions against infectious diseases using operations research methods and epidemic models. He received his undergraduate training at M.I.T. and his Master's degree from Oxford. He is currently in the M.D./Ph.D. program at Yale.
Paula Luz
Paula Luz is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Public Health, Yale University. She is interested in the integration of ecology and epidemiology for the study of vector-borne diseases, especially dengue. The focus is comparative analysis of control strategies. She received her M.D. from Fluminense Federal University in 2002, and her M.Sc. from Rio de Janeiro State Universtiy in 2005.
Undergraduate Students
Evan Orenstein
Evan Orenstein is a senior majoring in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. He is interested in exploring how mathematical models can guide clinical decision making and public health policy. Currently, he is working on a clinical decision rule to determine appropriate empiric treatment of HIV-TB coinfected patients in a setting with high TB drug resistance. In his spare time, he devotes himself to juggling 5 balls and the quest to eat two whole pizzas.
Alumni
Beth Kochin
Beth graduated with a double major in Applied Mathematics and Biology in 2007. For her senior thesis, she explored childhood disease vaccination from a game theoretic perspective. She is interested in using mathematical models to study the ecology and evolution of infectious disease. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Biology at Emory University.
Eric Poolman
Dr. Poolman received his M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine, and his M.B.A. from Yale School of Management, in 2005. He is interested in the epidemiological modeling of health policies regarding infectious disease, particularly the perverse effects when interactions between pathogens and between individual pathogen strains are taken into account. His recent and current work is on human papillomavirus, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, and H.I.V. He is currently doing a family practice residency at the Ventura County Medical Center.
Tim Reluga
Dr. Reluga is a mathematical theoretical biologist interested in problems in immunology, ecology, and population biology in general. Notable examples of his work include the game theory of vaccination choices, the spatial spread of epidemics, and the theory of antibiotic resistance control.
Tim was born and raised in central Connecticut, the son of a high school English teacher and a high school biology teacher. He completed his undergraduate studies at Tufts University, where he was a double major in biology and mathematics. He did undergraduate research in both areas. Upon completing his undergraduate studies, Tim enrolled in the University of Washington's doctoral program in Applied Mathematics. His doctoral dissertation developed several new approaches for the study of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in population ecology.
Following the completion of his degree, Tim spent two years studying epidemiology in the Galvani lab, and a year in the Perelson group at Los Alamos. He is currently an assistant professor of mathematics at the Pennsylvania State University.
Dave Thomas
Dave recently completed his MPH at the Yale school of Epidemiology and Public Health. Before pursuing his MPH, he worked for a decade in and around San Francisco as a programmer and systems developer, in both the private and non-profit sectors. He is interested in applying his technical capacity building skills to international health problems.