Ep 10: Viral Epidemiology
Synopsis
Viruses are the hot topic since the newsbreak of early 2020 with respect to the emergence of COVID-19. But viruses are one of the oldest microbes on Earth, and have been quite impactful all throughout the tree of life, and it’s history, that began in the Archaean Eon roughly 3.8-3.9 billion years ago. In this special episode, we take a deep dive into the definition of viral epidemiology which includes, what viruses are and how viruses spread.
Following a basic introduction, we will get a grasp on the buzz words you may have encountered over the course of the COVID 19 pandemic, mask type efficiency, as well as address viral spread modeling and how that impacts policies!
The last segment will be an outlook for the future. We will discuss the future trends suggested by experts that accounts for Climate Change and human population increase including urban & producer sprawl. To leave on a good note, our esteemed guest star will enlighten us on MRNA vaccines and address how they will fight surfacing viruses to come!
Full Audio Version
Meet the Guest Stars
David Wiles
David graduated from Slippery Rock University in 2020 with a Bachelors in Public Health, and now works as a Community Health Worker with Cornerstone Care in the Clairton, PA (United States) area. David is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and a Certified Community Health Worker. He aspires to pursue a Master’s program in Epidemiology within the near future, and over the course of this podcast, David will be on future episodes Co-Hosting topics that pertain to his background in health education. To learn more about David, connect with him via LinkedIn with the following link:
Jessica Kerr
Jessica is a part-time PhD student in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and full-time project coordinator for a global network of infectious disease modelers. She earned an honors Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with a minor in Spanish from Pitt in 2016, and a master’s in public health in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology in 2019. She has been working in public health and data science research for over five years.
Her primary research focus for the past three years has been vaccine coverage and hesitancy, beginning with measles and now focusing on COVID-19. Other main facets of her work include engaging students in infectious disease modeling research and increasing diversity in the field of infectious disease modeling. If you would like to connect with Jessica, use the link below:
