PhD Research Projects
Ph.D. from University of Florida 2014 - 2018
I worked at the Army Public Health Center in the summer of 2017 as part of my Department of Defense SMART Fellowship. APHC is my sponsoring facility and as such I will be employed with them for 2 years post-graduation. My responsibilities included generating maps for the Health of the Force Report, updating information on the APHC website, meeting with the groups in charge of updating data entry sites for surveillance purposes, and other tasks.
I was supported by an ORISE internship to work at USAMRIID for summer 2016 under the mentorship of Dr. Farooq Nasar. Multiple projects were pursued that included i) analyzing blood fed mosquito samples from Japanese encephalitis virus project (below), ii) discussions related to building a risk index model to answer questions related to the north American Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus and Everglades virus transmission cycles, iii) laboratory techniques for viral diagnostics, and iv) animal training for laboratory experiment use.
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During summer 2015 I worked in coordination with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh to train and lead a team of 6 local Bangladeshi's -- 3 entomologists, 3 veterinarians -- in surveying and sampling 24 villages throughout Rangpur District, Bangladesh. Data were collected in order to research the role of host composition in Japanese encephalitis virus transmission in Bangladesh (see below).
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Role of Host Composition in Japanese encephalitis virus transmission, Bangladesh
Japanese encephalitis (JE), a mosquito-borne zoonosis, is the most important cause of viral encephalitis in eastern and southern Asia. The estimated incidence of JE in Rangpur Division is high in comparison to neighboring countries and JE was responsible for approximately 30% of all hospitalizations due to encephalitis in this region in 2014. The role of animal host composition within a community in regards to the maintenance of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in Bangladesh has never been addressed; however, understanding the relative contributions of different host species to transmission is essential when considering control options. Identifying which host species drive transmission could inform targeted interventions, such as focusing human vaccination campaigns on geographic areas with high transmission potential, and may suggest ways to reduce transmission among amplifying hosts. Since human infection does not contribute to the spread of disease and the human vaccine does not reduce transmission of JEV in the reservoir community, no herd immunity is generated and vaccination has to be sustained indefinitely. Targeting high-risk areas for human vaccination could improve the long-term viability of this intervention by increasing its cost effectiveness. In order to accomplish this research I trained and led a team of 6 local Bangladeshi's -- 3 entomologists, 3 veterinarians -- in surveying and sampling 24 villages throughout Rangpur District, Bangladesh. Data collected included 1) serum from older cattle to gain a historical perspective of JEV presence in the villages, 2) blood fed mosquitoes to evaluate the host preference of common JEV vectors, and 3) household survey data to obtain information on the animals owned by houses and other JEV risk factors. Seroconversion of sentinel goats was tested every month for three months using ELISA to estimate the force of infection. A seed grant from the Emerging Pathogens Institute at University of Florida made fieldwork in Bangladesh possible, in collaboration with the international centre for diarrhoeal disease research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). |